ptfnos 

.hits 



Hollinger Corp. 
pH8.5 



4305 

K5 
,y 1 



Hi 



m 



is. 



3 



a 



s 



IM 
1 







D 



I 
D 



D 
Is 



D 





hi 



D 




D 



El 



□ 




a 



D 




D 



m 



B 
I 



DAY 
EXERCISES 



n 



If 



1 

a 

I 



a 



□ 



ili 



^ 



E 



D 



i 



G 



a 




THIRTY-FIVE 

BRIGHT, SHORT EXERCISES 

TOR USE IN SCHOOLS 



m 



L. L. KELLOGG & CO. 

Chicago NEW YORK 



Boston 



E 



HP 



D 

1 



D 

i 



e 



Q 



a 



atsi 



i 



D 



D 



f 



D 



D 



Q 



D 



Ql 



3 



D 







3 



3 



Q 



a 



& 



a 



□ 



D 



i 







School entertainment Books 

^/it 15 CenU Bach. 

EACH of these books is intended to provide a play or exercise 
for a complete entertainment. Full directions as to parts, 
costumes, etc., are given. Teachers will find them valuable 
helps. 

MOTHER NATURE'S FESTIVAL 
An exercise for primary grades. The characters are Mother Nature, 
April, May, Birds, Flowers, Trees. From 30 to 50 children can take part 
The costumes may be very simple or as elaborate as desired. Any 
school can give it. 

AT THE COURT OF KING WINTER 

For Christmas. The characters are Winter. November, December. 
Nature, Santa Claus, Christmas Day, Forefathers' Day. Also as many 
Elves, Heralds, Winds, and h lowers as may be desired. 

A VISIT FROM MOTHER GOOSE 

A Christmas Play for Primary Pupils. Chief characters are Mother 
Goose, Simon, Old Woman Who Lives m a Shoe, Mother Hubbard, Bo- 
peep, Be peep's Sheep, Litt . e Boy Blue, Bachelor. 24 children may take 
part, but it can be given with a less number. 

CHRISTMAS STARS 

A charming Fancy Drill ^?ith songs and recitations interspersed. For 
10 girls, who carry lighted candles and are dressed in simple but effective 
costumes. Full descriptions and directions are given. 

PRIMARY FANCY DRILLS 

Contaias two Drills. No. 1— The Fan Fairids, for little girls. No. 2— 
A Prill with Kings, for 24 children, eithtr all girls or an equal number 
of 1 >oys and girls. 

NEW YEAR'S RECEPTION 

A musical program for primary classes. Songs, music, and recitations 
complete. Principal characters are Old Year, New Year, the Twelve 
MoD-ths. A most delightful program for a school entertainment. 

A CHRISTMAS MEETING 

N &w. A Holiday Exercise for 25 Children. The characters are as fol- 
lows : Girls— Nature, Holly, Mistletoe, 2 Drvads, 2 Children, 4 Nations. 
Boys -Father Time, The Year, Jack Frost, 4 English Customs, 4 or more 
Carol Singers, 2 Yule Log Bearers. Winter costumes are easily made. 
This makes an attractive Christmas program. The same book contains 
Holly lied ana Mistletoe, a Fancy Drill with Singing, for Christmas 
celebrations. 

ARBOR DAY IN THE PRIMARY ROOM 

Consisting of Recitations, Class Exercises, Songs, Action Songs for 
the very smallest children. Some of the titles ere " Into the Sunbeam's 
Keeping," "The Flowers' Helpers," "Crocas Bells," "Spring's Call," 
" Trees I'll Plant," " We Are the Trees." 

NEW ARBOR DAY EXERCISES 

Songs, Recitations, Addresses, and Quotations for celebrating Arbor 
day out of doors and in the school-room. The program is so arranged 
that the exercises begin in the school-room and aro later transferred 
to the place where the tree planting is to be done. 

Are you interested in any of our new catalogs? If so, send for 
tbem : New Century, Teachers\ Entertainment, Supplementary Read- 
ing, Libraries, Blackboard Stencils , etc. Best books at lowe st prices. 

E. L. KELLOGG & CO., 6i E. 9 th St .New York 



SPECIAL DAY 
EXERCISES 



THIRTY-FIVE PROGRAMS FOR SCHOOL 
CELEBRATIONS 



ARRANGED BY 



AMOS MV KELLOGG 

Editor of The School Journal, The Teachers Institute, 
Author of School Management, etc. 




NEW YORK AND CHICAGO 

E. L. KELLOGG & CO. 



j«- 



,'rWWOMT eW»W I 

f Ke-v. iq - iq i \ 
pUASS *- XXe, No.| 






\ 



^. 



-a? 



KELLOGG'S LATEST 

gcbool Entertainment Books 

LATEST ISSUES 

Kellogg's Practical Recitations - 25c. 

Kellogg's Practical Dialogs ■ 25c. 

Kellogg's Little Primary Pieces - 25c. 

Kellogg's Primary Speaker - 25c. 

Kellogg's Practical Declamations - - 25c. 

Kellogg's Special Day Exercises - - - 25c. 

Kellogg's Nature Recitations - 25c. 
Gannett's Who Killed Cock Robin, and 

Marching in the School-Room (illus.) 30c. 

Kellogg's— Van Amburgh's Menagerie - 15c. 

Kellogg's Months of the Year - - - 15c. 

Kellogg's New Patriotic Exercises - - 1 5c. 

Lambarton's Timothy Clover Seed - - 15c. 
Kellogg's The Wonderful Doctor, and 

Troubles Everywhere - - - - 15c. 

Kellogg's His Royal Nibs - 15c. 

OTHER VALUABLE 'BOOKS IN THE SERIES 

Kellogg's Spring and Summer School Cele- 
brations - - - - - - 25c. 

Kellogg's Authors' Birthdays, No. 1 - - 25c. 

Kellogg's Authors' Birthdays, No. 2 - - 25c 

Kellogg's Primary Recitations - - - 25c. 

Kellogg's New Year and Midwinter Exercises 25c. 

Kellogg's Tip Top Dialogs - - - 25c. 
*. JCeilpgg'.s How.lo Celebrate- ^Thanksgiving 

V Vrarj^Chrfsfj-nas* - ; - •• *•• ^ - 25c. 

• K'elrogg'* Christmas Brftertahrmenf «■ - 25c. 
Kellogg's How to Celebrate Washington's 

••• ^Bltftafciy^-; : i -•• ••* ^* .-r - 25c. 

/K^lio^gV&akieti.c Quotations •»:* * - 25c. 

• Kellogg's Qu6tatioh BboV- -• V - - 25c. 
Kellogg's New Fancy Drills and Marches - 25c. 
Kellogg's Home Coming of Autumn's Queen 25c. 
Kellogg's Arbor Day in the Primary Room 15c. 
Kellogg's Lincoln the Patriot - - - 1 ?c. 
Kellogg's Flag Day in the School-Room - 15c. 
Kellogg's Primary Fancy Drills - - - 15c. 



Copyright 1903 by 
E. L. KELLOGG & CO., New York. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Washington's Birthday Exercises 5 

Shakespeare Exercises 9 

Angelo Exercises 15 

The Value of Knowledge 19 

Campbell Exercises 29 

Thanksgiving Exercises 36 

Christmas Exercises 40 

Sigourney Memorial Day 51 

Longfellow Exercises 55 

George Washington Exercises 59 

Holmes Exercises 68 

Bird Day 74 

Browning Exercises 79 

Debate About Strikes 83 

The Flower Queen 88 

Emerson Exercises 95 

Christmas Celebration 102 

Tree-planting Exercises 107 

The Excelsior Club 112 

A Court Scene: Haw vs. Hum 116 

Historical Visitors 122 

(Special Exercises.) 

3 



Special Bjercises. 



Washington's Birthday Exercises. 

For 13 pupils. Exercises to be given February 2 2d. 



I George TIGlasbtngton, | 

Born Feb. 22, 1733, 1£ 

it 

Died Dec. 14, 1799. I| 




15/ Pupil. — George Washington was born in West- 
moreland, Va., one hundred and fifty- two years ago 
to-day. His parents were very careful in training their 
children. They tried especially to make them truthful. 
George had learned this lesson well w T hen only five 
years old, as the story of the hatchet shows. 

2nd Pupil. — An old-fashioned writer says of him: 
" He made rapid progress in his studies in school, which 
was not owing so much to his uncommon aptitude at 
learning, as to his diligence and industry. For ex- 
ample, when the boys would be staring out of the win- 
dow watching the birds and squirrels, or sitting idly 
with their hands in their pockets, opening and shutting 
their jack-knives, or counting their marbles, or munch- 

5 



6 Special €xtttist8. 

ing apples behind their books, our George, with his 
hands to his ears to keep out the school-room buzz, 
would be studying with all his might, nor would he once 
raise his eyes from his book till every word of his lesson 
was ready to drop from his tongue's-end of its own 
accord. 

yd Pupil. — When George was eleven years old his 
father died, and he and his elder brother Lawrence 
assisted the mother in taking care of the other three 
children and looking after the estate. The father be- 
queathed a large tract of land on the Potomac to 
Lawrence, who named it Mount Vernon, and here 
George went to live with his brother, that he might 
have better school advantages. In addition to the 
common-school branches he studied bookkeeping and 
surveying. 

4th Pupil. — He was very fond of athletic sports. It 
is said that he could outdo any of his schoolmates in run- 
ning, throwing, and wrestling. He used to organize the 
boys into companies of soldiers, and drill them in mili- 
tary tactics. In this way he grew up strong and vigor- 
ous, able to endure hardships. 

$th Pupil. — When about 14 years of age George was 
possessed with a desire to go to sea. His brother Law- 
rence procured a warrant for him, and he prepared to 
go, his mother reluctantly giving her consent. But 
when he came to bid her good-bye, her courage failed, 
and she refused to consent to his going. We presume 
George was disappointed, but he unpacked his trunk 
and dutifully stayed at home with his mother. 

6th Pupil. — George continued to spend much time 
with his brother, with whom he was always a favorite. 
While there he employed much of his time in surveying, 
which he decided to make a profession of. Near his 
brother lived Lord Fairfax, who owned a very large 
estate, and he employed George to survey for him. 
This often took him many miles into the forests, where 



^asrt)mgton'$ 515trtt)&a£ Cvtttteti. 7 

he fell in with Indians who became very friendly to him. 
He learned many things from them that were useful to 
him afterwards when he had to fight them. 

yth Pupil. — When he was about 19, trouble between 
England and France brought about the French and In- 
dian war. Lawrence Washington was an officer in the 
company of colonists who were preparing to oppose the 
French, and he obtained the appointment of George to 
the office of Major. Soon after this Lawrence was 
obliged to go to the Bahamas for his health, and George 
accompanied him. Here he caught the small-pox, which 
left his face slightly marked. The climate did not help 
Lawrence, and he returned home. Shortly after he 
died, leaving his large estate at Mount Vernon to 
George. 

8th Pupil. — From 1753 to 1758 Washington was en- 
gaged in the French and Indian war. He then re- 
signed his commission, was married to Mrs. Martha 
Custis, and settled down at Mount Vernon. He took 
an active part in the questions which led to the out- 
break of the Revolution. Was appointed commander- 
in-chief of the army in 1775. 

gth Pupil (boy). — I would like to relate just a short 
story to show how daring he was, and how sharp to de- 
tect anything that was not all right. There was an old 
Tory (during the revolutionary war) who pretended to 
be a good friend to Washington, but Washington sus- 
pected him. One day the Tory invited Washington 
to dinner; he pressed him to come alone, and to be 
there exactly at 2 o'clock. At a quarter before two 
Washington rode up. The Tory was very agreeable, 
and proposed a walk on the piazza until dinner was 
ready. He appeared a little nervous and kept watching 
a hill in the distance, over which they soon saw a com- 
pany of what appeared to be British troops riding. 
Washington called the Tory's attention to them, and 
said it wouldn't be best for them to see him there. But 



8 Special €xtxti<it$. 

he assured the General that there was not the slightest 
danger; they were only friends. Washington appeared 
to be satisfied, and they continued their walk until the 
troops were near the house; then slapping Washington 
on the shoulder the Tory said: "General, you are my 
prisoner." "My friend," said Washington laying hold 
of him, "you are mistaken ; you are mine." The troops 
were Washington's own men whom he had ordered to 
dress in British uniform, and come for him at two 
o'clock, suspecting the Tory's little trick. 

10th Pupil. — At the close of the Revolutionary war, 
Washington looked forward with pleasure to a return to 
private life, but a grateful people called him to the head 
of the country he had served so well. For eight years 
longer he continued in her service, and then returned to 
his home in 1787. 

11th Pupil. — In public, Washington was rather form- 
al in manner, but in private he was pleasant and genial, 
especially with children. He never had any of his own, 
but was a kind father to his two step-children. 

12th Pupil. — A little incident illustrating his kind- 
ness is related by a gentleman who was sent to Mount 
Vernon with a message. The gentleman had caught a 
severe cold on the way, and Washington urged him to 
take some remedies before retiring, but he refused. In 
the night he coughed a great deal, and presently he 
heard a knock at his door. On looking out there stood 
Washington himself with a bowl of tea in his hand. 

13th Pupil. — The 13th of December, 1799, was a 
cold, rainy day. Washington was out long enough to 
get wet and caught a severe cold. The next morning 
he was very sick and a doctor was called. All known 
remedies were applied, but without avail. He grew 
rapidly worse all day. At twelve o'clock the follow- 
ing night the "Father of his Country" breathed his 
last. 

Teacher. — The following lines addressed to Mount 



£>tjafeespeare Gvctti$t$. 9 

Vernon, express the sentiment of every x\merican 
heart: 

All. — There dwelt the man, the flower of human kind, 
Whose visage mild bespoke the noble mind, 
There dwelt the Soldier who his sword ne'er drew 
But in a righteous cause, to Freedom true. 
And oh, Columbia, by thy sons caressed. 
There dwelt the Father of the realm he Hessed, 
Who no wish felt to make his mighty praise, 
Like other chiefs, the means himself to raise; 
But there retiring breathed in pure renown, 
And felt a grandeur that disdained a crown. 

— Rev. Wm. Jay. 



Shakespeare Exercises. 

- '-y?y. ':?.2J. : ; y iy iy^s=y^ys;y^y^y^y^y.2yiyiy x?. 

| TlCWlfam Sbafceapeare, | 

il Born April 23 (?) 1564, s| 

£ i 

Died April 23, 1616. | 



Note. — The paragraphs can be committed to memory and re- 
peated, or copied and read. Participants may be seated upon the 
platform, or at their seats, and rise in order. Prepare a tablet or 
banner with the following: 

1st Pupil. — A century ago George Stevens wrote: 
"All that is known with any degree of certainty of 
Shakespeare is, that he was born at Stratford-upon- 
Avon, married, and had children there; went to London, 
where he commenced acting, and wrote poems and 
plays; returned to Stratford, made his will, died, and 
was buried." 

2nd Pupil. — Tradition adds to this that his father was 
once a well-to-do yeoman of much intelligence, holding 



to Special <fcvtrtigi& 

at one time several important offices; that his mother 
was of a genteel family ; that he acquired a little learn- 
ing at a grammar school in Stratford, which one of his 
friends said amounted to " small Latin and less Greek.' ' 

yd Pupil. — It is said that he was a handsome youth, 
who sowed a good many wild oats, and married, when 
only eighteen, a woman eight years older than himself; 
then he fled to London to escape persecution from a man 
whose wrath he had incurred by writing a satirical -bal- 
lad about him; and that his first employment when he 
reached London was holding horses at the doors of the 
theatre. 

4th Pupil. — Whether there is any truth in these stories 
or not, it is quite certain that he entered the theatre, 
became an actor, and soon a writer also, of plays. It 
was quite customary then for actors to write new plays 
and recast old ones for their employers. In the days of 
Queen Elizabeth dramas were in demand. The 
theatre took the place of our newspaper and light litera- 
ture. Shakespeare was seeking, not fame but a fortune, 
and he bent his energies to the work. His talent was 
soon discovered and he received large sums for his plays. 

$th Pupil. — He also wrote poems, for one of which 
he received, it is said, $3,000. His works consist of 37 
plays, 5 long poems, and 154 sonnets. Of the plays, 
King John, Richard II and III, Henry IV in two parts, 
Henry V, Henry VI in three parts, and Henry VIII are 
historical; Titus Andronicus, Hamlet, King Lear, 
Macbeth, Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, and 
Cymbeline are legendary; and the others are fictional. 
In his sonnets he touches often upon himself, and gives 
us reason to suppose that he carried through life, 

" An unseen grief 
That swells with silence in the tortured soul!" 

6th Pupil. — The material out of which several of his 
plays are constructed was taken from old legends ar^d 



£>tjafcespeare <&cttti$t&. 1 1 

historical scenes. Some have charged him with borrow- 
ing, but it has been well said that when he did borrow 
he borrowed nobly. "He breathed upon dead bodies 
and brought them to life." 

jth Pupil. — No long description of his characters is 
needed; they speak for themselves. A few words ac- 
quaint us with the wicked Cleopatra who "feeds herself 
with most delicious poison," with the false Cressida 
who "with one eye yet looks on Troilus, but with her 
heart her other eye doth see Diomedes." We see her 
opposite in the faithful Vergillia who "will not over the 
threshold until her lord return from the wars," and in 
the mother of Coriolanus, we see the stern Roman 
matron, who had "rather eleven sons die nobly for 
their country, than one voluptuously surfeit out of 
action." 

8th Pupil. — Shylock reveals his malignity in: 

" I will not hear thee speak, 
I'll have my bond. 

The pound of flesh which I demand of him 
Is dearly bought; 'tis mine and I will have it. 
If every ducat in six thousand ducats 
Were in six parts and every part a ducat, 
I would not draw them; I would have my bond." 

He is asked for charity's sake to have a surgeon 
ready to stop his victim's wounds "lest he do bleed to 
death," but he says: 

" Is it so nominated in the bond ? 
I cannot find it: 'tis not in the bond." 

gth Pupil. — Shakespeare's characters are live men 
and women. If he did know "small Latin and less 
Greek" he knew the book of human nature by heart. 
Perhaps no one character shows this knowledge more 
than that of Macbeth. He was not a bad man at first. 



12 Special €rttti&t£. 

But the prophecy of the witches roused his ambition. 
The more he thought about it the more he desired their 
fulfillment and the less repulsive seemed the murderous 
plot urged by his wife. But he can hardly summon the 
nerve to do the deed. On the way he mutters: 

"Thou sure and firm-set earth: 

Hear not my steps which way they walk, for fear 

The very stones prate of my whereabouts.' ' 

And after it is done he says to his wife . 

"Methought I heard a voice cry, ' Sleep no more! 
Macbeth doth murder sleep, the innocent sleep/ " 

What hands are here! Ha! they pluck out mine eyes! 
Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood 
Clean from my hand ? No ; this my hand will rather 
The multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one 
red." 

10th Pupil. — Brutus is the very personification of 
patriotism. Hear him speak to the conspirators: 

" What is it that you would impart to me? 
If it be aught toward the general good, 
Set honor in one eye and death i' the other, 
And I will look on both indifferently." 

And then to the people in explanation of the murder 
of Caesar: 

" Yet see you but our hands 
And this the bleeding business they have done; 
Our hearts ye see not, they are pitiful 
And pity to the general wrong of Rome 
Hath done this deed to Caesar." 

"If there be in this assembly any dear friend of 
Caesar's, to him I say that Brutus' love to Caesar was no 
less than his. If that friend demand why Brutus rose 
against Caesar, this is my answer — not that I loved 



£>tjata$peare'0 €xcuiet$. 13 

Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more ... I slew 
my best lover for the good of Rome. I have the same 
dagger for myself when it shall please my country to 
need my death. " 

nth Pupil. — Shakespeare makes Mark Antony utter 
words that draw tears even now. " Friends, Romans, 
countrymen, lend me your ears: 

"I come to bury Caesar — not to praise him. 
" He was my friend, faithful and just to me ; 
But Brutus says he was ambitious, and Brutus 
Is an honorable man. • • • Bear with me 
My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar 
And I must pause till it come back to me. 

" Here is a parchment, — 'tis his will 
Let but the commons hear this testament 
And they would go and kiss dead Caesar's wounds 

"I must not read it. 
It is not meet to know how Caesar loved you. 

"If you have tears prepare to shed them now. 

You all do know this mantle, 

Look! In this place ran Cassius' dagger through, 

Through this the well beloved Brutus stabbed, 

And as he plucked his cursed steel away 

Mark how the blood of Caesar followed it, 

As rushing out of doors to be resolved 

If Brutus so unkindly knocked or no; 

For Brutus as you know was Caesar's angel: 

Judge, O you gods, how dearly Caesar loved him! 

This was the most unkindest cut of all; 

For when the noble Caesar saw him stab, 

Ingratitude, more strong than traitor's arms, 

Quite vanquished him : then burst his mighty heart, 

And in his mantle muffling up his face, 

Even at the base of Pompey's statue, 

Which all the while ran blood, great Caesar fell." 

12th Pupil. — In Hamlet we see the noble heart to 
whom life has become a burden: 



14 Special €wtim. 

u To be, or not to be — that is the question: — 
Whether it is nobler in the mind to suffer 
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune 
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles 
And by opposing end them, 

" For who would bear the whips and scorns of time 
The oppressor's wrong and the proud man's contumely, 
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay, 
The insolence of office and the spurns 
That patient merit of the unworthy takes, 
When he himself might his quietus make 
With a bare bodkin ? Who would fardels bear, 
To groan and sweat under a weary life 
But that the dread of something after death, — 
The undiscovered country from whose bourne 
No traveler returns, — puzzles the will 
And makes us rather bear the ills we have 
Than fly to others that we know not of." 

13th Pupil. — The name of Shakespeare is the greatest 
in literature ; it has become — to use his own expression 
"as familiar as household words." His works have 
bfeen translated into every language of the civilized 
world ; they will never grow old ; they have been called 
a library in themselves; the more they are studied the 
more beauty is found in them. We will close with a 
few of the tributes that have been paid to him. 

Coleridge calls him the "many souled Shakespeare." 

Dr. Johnson said: 

" Each change of many colored life he drew, 
Exhausted worlds, and then imagined new." 

Churchill said: 

" Nature listening stood while Shakespeare played, 
And wonder'd at the work herself had made." 

Ben Johnson said: 

"Thou art alive still while thy book doth live, 
And we have wits to read, and praise to give." 



angrlo €rttdsts. 15 



And Milton — 

u Thou, in our wonder and astonishment, 
Hast built thyself a livelong monument.' ' 



Angelo Exercises. 

I /OMcbael Sngelo, 

^ Born March 20, 1475 ^ 

& |g 

I Died Feb., 1553. | 

[Note. — The paragraphs can be committed to memory and re- 
cited, or copied and read. The participants can all be seated on 
the platform and rise in order, or come up to the platform from 
seats near. The teacher may give a lecture on Art as a part of 
the exercise. Procure a large card and print on it as below.] 

1st Pupil. — We have come together to celebrate the 
birthday of a great man — a great sculptor, painter, 
architect, and poet. He was born in Tuscany, Italy, in 

1475- 

2nd Pupil. — As soon as he could use his hands he 

began to draw. At school he neglected his lessons and 

spent his time in drawing. His father was displeased 

with this and treated him harshly, but the boy had 

nothing but drawing in his thoughts. 

yd Pupil. — When he was 13 years old his father 
reluctantly consented to place him under the instruction 
of a noted artist who agreed to pay for the boy's services 
— a very unusual thing for a mere beginner. 

4th Pupil. — His progress was so rapid that in a short 
time the master confessed that his pupil understood 
more than he did himself. While studying here he 
painted his first noted picture — a representation of St. 



1 6 special €wtim. 

Anthony tortured by monsters whose bodies were dis- 
torted into all manner of animal and fishy shapes. 
While working on it he used to frequent the fish markets 
to study the forms of the fish. 

$th Pupil. — Lorenzo, the ruler of Florence, opened a 
garden for artists in that city and Michael Angelo went 
there to study. There he first attempted sculpture. 
He obtained some pieces of marble and copied the 
image of a Centaur which stood in the garden so well 
that the work attracted the attention of Lorenzo. 
He paid particular attention to the boy artist, gave him 
rooms in the palace, and treated him with great kind- 
ness. 

6th Pupil. — Here he became acquainted with the 
best artists in the country, but he was no imitator of 
their work. He studied the living forms around him, 
giving particular attention to the muscles of the human 
frame. He studied them in every possible position, and 
even dissected dead bodies that he might learn more 
about them. It was this that gave him his power in 
sculpture and painting. 

fth Pupil. — When he was twenty years old he exe- 
cuted a Cupid in marble which was sold to a cardinal 
in Rome and was the occasion of the artist paying a 
visit to that city. He was 21 years old when he ar- 
rived in Rome. The works of art he saw there aroused 
him to greater enthusiasm in his work. He decided to 
remain and study them. Then he executed a statue 
which first made him famous — the La Pieta. It repre- 
sents the Virgin Mary, mourning over her dead son. 
The work is now standing on the altarpiece of a side 
chapel of St. Peters, at Rome. 

8th Pupil. — When this was finished he returned to 
Florence, and began his next great work — the statue of 
David. He made it from a block of marble 18 feet 
high, which had been prepared for another design and 
abandoned. Other sculptors considered the block 



#ngeio €vttti&t&. 17 

spoiled, but Michael Angelo so completely used the 
whole of it that a small piece of the natural crust of 
the stone could be seen on the head of the statue. It 
was placed on the piazza of the Gran Duca, where it 
now stands. The statue represents David standing 
with one foot on Goliath's head holding the sword in 
his hand ready for a blow. 

gth Pupil. — So far Michael Angelo had given his at- 
tention entirely to sculpture. He was 28 years old be- 
fore he attempted anything to speak of in painting. He 
then received an order to paint a wall in a monastery, 
which shows what an exalted opinion was had of his 
abilities. While he was at work upon this the Pope, 
who had been told what a wonderful artist he was, sent 
for him to come to Rome and ordered him to build for 
him a huge mausoleum. 

10th Pupil. — This was a new kind of work — archi- 
tecture — but he drew his plans, the Pope approved of 
them, and he w T ent to work. The mausoleum was to 
be 30 feet high and to consist of three parts, one above 
the other; to contain more than fifty statues, many 
bronzes, and to be ornamented with all manner of 
architectual decorations. But it progressed slowly, and 
before much was done upon it he was chosen to paint 
the walls of the Sistine Chapel. 

nth Pupil. — This was a very great task. The ceil- 
ing and walls were to be covered with pictures. It is 
here that the originality and boldness of his style is 
clearly shown. There is no repetition in the faces or 
figures. Each one portrays boldly the characteristics of 
the subject. The pictures are nearly all Bible scenes. On 
the ceiling is the picture of the creation of the world, the 
creation of Adam and Eve,the temptation in the Garden, 
the expulsion from Paradise, the sacrifices of Abel and 
Cain, and the Deluge. In the smaller places about the 
walls are many other Bible scenes and single figures of 
the twelve apostles, of the prophets, and of sybils. 



1 8 Special €mti&t&. 

12th Pupil. — The ceiling was painted in 20 months. 
He worked at it almost constantly; His eyes became so 
accustomed to looking up that for a long while after- 
ward he was obliged to read with his head bent back, 
and the book held above it. 

13th Pupil. — About this time the Pope died and the 
new Pope ordered him to cover the front of the church 
of San Lorenzo with sculpture. This was a greater 
work than the mausoleum even. Before it was finished 
this Pope died, and the next one gave him more painting 
to do in the Sistine Chapel. He was very anxious to 
finish the mausoleum, and worked at it whenever he 
could get a chance, but he was kept so busy with other 
works that he was never able to complete it. 

14th Pupil. — In his 72 nd year he was appointed 
architect of St. Peter's, which office he continued to 
hold till his death. With this great work in his hands 
he yet found time for others, among which was a bridge 
across Tiber, the Church of St. Maria, and a palace on 
Capitoline hill. The hill he also adorned with statues. 

i$th Pupil. — The Cathedral of St. Peters had been 
carried as far as the dome when the architect was called 
away from all his work. A slow fever attacked him 
in February, 1553, and in a few days he died. 

16th Pupil. — His disposition was inclined towards 
melancholy; some thought this was due to a disfigure- 
ment of his face, caused by a blow received in his youth. 
He was proud and passionate, but noble-minded, and 
a wonder of generosity. He lived very simply and sent 
nearly all the money he earned home to his father. 

17 th Pupil. — Besides being a painter, sculptor, and 
architect, he was also a poet of no mean ability. Sev- 
eral editions of his poems have been published. Dante 
was his favorite poet. It is said that he knew all of his 
poems by heart. 

iSth Pupil. — Many of the artists of his day hated 
him through envy, and did not give his works the 



Ctje ©aiue of finotolefcge, 19 

credit they deserved, but ever}' one since his time ad- 
mits that he was one of the greatest, if not the greatest 
artist that ever lived. 

The Value of Knowledge. 

(For closing or other important days.) 

[This exercise introduces 23 pupils — 8 boys and 15 girls — but may 
be adapted to any school. If there are too many participants, some 
parts may be omitted, if not enough more may be added, so that 
each pupil may have something to do. A song may be sung by the 
school before beginning the exercises. The platform is then vacated. 
A pupil steps upon it and rings the bell. Others now hurry in and 
take their seats on chairs provided as at the opening of school. The 
pupil says: "Our teacher will not be here this morning until recess; 
I propose that we kaep school all by ourselves and improve the time 
to the best advantage."] 

Edgar (throwing up his hat.) Hi! I'll improve my 
time to the best advantage, you bet. Come on boys; 
let's have some fun. (Leaves his seat and walks around.) 

Henry. I say we had better get our lessons first and 
have them off our minds. Then we shall be ready to 
enjoy ourselves. My father says: "Work first, play 
afterwards." 

Edgar. Pshaw! What's the good of studying? I 
wish there wasn't any books. I wish there never had 
been any made, and I had all the money that's been 
spent for them. 

William. I tell you what, boys! Let's have a debate. 
Resolved: "That it is better to have monev than knowl- 
edge." 

Harvey. Hold on! We'll have to have a chairman 
first, and do things in a business way. 

Fred. I nominate Stella Clapper for chairman. 

Harvey. I second the nomination. 

William. It is moved and seconded that Stella 
Clapper be chairman of this meeting. All in favor of 



20 £>jpectai €wti£t8. 

that manifest it by saying "Aye." (All vote.) It is 
carried. Miss Clapper will please take the chair. 
(Stella takes the teacher's chair.) 

Stella. Please proceed with the question. Edgar 
Shaw says money is best. 

Edgar (rises). Well, I am afraid this is more than I 
bargained for, but I think I can show that I am right. 
I am sure it would be much better to have money than 
knowledge, for with money you can buy all you need. 
Knowledge won't buy you a crust of bread if you are 
starving (sits). 

Henry (rises). Miss Chairman. 

Stella. Henry Olliver. 

Henry. The gentleman says knowledge won't buy a 
crust of bread. I beg to differ with him. Knowledge 
will buy much more than a crust; knowledge is in de- 
mand; it brings a high price in the market. Suppose I 
know how to* draw plans for a house; I go to a man 
who wants to build a house, and tell him how long he 
must have this wall, how high that one, how deep his 
foundation, and how much material he will need. He 
pays me for what I tell him; I sell him my knowledge. 

Fred, (rising.) Miss Chairman. 

Stella. Fred Brown. 

Fred. The gentleman has been talking about a trade, 
not knowledge, such as we are getting here, which I 
think is what the first gentleman meant. 

William (rising.) A man's trade is his knowledge; it 
is knowledge of the things he has to work with, and 
knowledge of how to place them so as to accomplish 
what he wishes to. The knowledge we are getting here 
is the foundation on which we will build our trades or 
professions after we leave school. 

George (rising.) Yes; but there are thousands of good 
carpenters and masons and all kinds of workmen who 
have no education at all, many who do not know how 
to read even. 






Wfyt ©aiue of ftnotoirtige* 21 

Harvey. Miss Chairman: I beg to correct the last 
gentleman. He said good workmen when he should 
have said passable workmen. They do a certain a 
amount of work in a day and do it well, but a machine 
would do it as well or better. They do not keep im- 
proving in their business and increasing their salary, 
because they are working blindly. If they had a good 
stock of knowledge to start with, and then learned their 
trades and then kept on reading and improving them- 
selves, they would become masters of their business and 
leave the lower place to others. 

Charles. Miss Chairman : If it would be in order to 
introduce the opinions of others in this debate, I would 
like to quote something from Edward Everett. 

Stella. If there is no objection you may do so. 
{Charlie rises and declaims.) 

Edward Everett says: "What sir! feed a child's 
body and let his soul hunger; pamper his limbs and 
starve his faculties? What! plant the earth, cover a 
thousand hills with your droves of cattle, pursue the 
fish to their hiding places in the sea, and spread your 
wheat fields across the plains in order to supply the 
wants of that body which will soon be as cold and 
senseless as the poorest clod, and let the spiritual es- 
sence within you, with all its glorious capacities for im- 
provement, languish and pine ? What ! build factories, 
turn in rivers upon the water-wheels, unchain the im- 
prisoned spirits of steam to weave a* garment for the 
body and leave the soul unadorned and naked ? What ! 
Send out your vessels to the farthest ocean and make 
battle with the monsters of the deep in order to obtain 
means for lighting up your dwellings, and permit that 
vital spark which Deity has kindled to languish and go 
out?" 

Mary {rising,) Miss Chairman: I believe in knowl- 
edge, too. I have just been reading about " A Wonder- 
ful Storehouse.' ' It says : " In the field of Time stands 



22 Special €rtttim. 

a wonderful storehouse filled with the rarest of treasures, 
which are free to all who will but go there for them. 
One of the strangest things about it is that the more 
there is taken out the fuller it grows. In olden times 
people did not go to it very often. Some Egyptians 
went once and came away with the power to build 
wonderful pyramids, temples, and tombs. Some 
Phoenicians went soon afterward, and received power to 
build ships and sail them, so that they became famous 
navigators. The Greeks were frequent visitors of the 
storehouse, and received great power in sculpture, paint- 
ing, and literature. The storehouse had become very 
large by that time, but there followed a long time — 
nearly a thousand years — in which scarcely a visitor 
entered it, and the whole world became full of sin and 
misery, and some of the evil men destroyed a part of 
the storehouse. But after a time people began to go 
there again for treasures. One man received a wonder- 
ful one — the printing press. That sent many men to 
the storehouse. It began to enlarge rapidly, and the 
treasures increased. Some of the visitors received 
knowledge of the laws of weights and pulleys, by which 
they were able to construct machinery to work for 
them. Others obtained knowledge of plants and soils, 
and the power to increase the products of the earth; 
others power to arrest diseases and to diminish bodily 
pain. One came away with power to imprison steam 
and compel it to pull boats and cars and turn wheels; 
another with power to chain the lightning, and another 
with power to make this work with steam in turning 
wheels and pulling cars. Is not this a wonderful 
storehouse? But what is more wonderful still, only 
a few out of the millions of people ever go to it. But 
more and more are going every year; perhaps the time 
will soon come when its treasures will be spread all 
over the world." 
Henry. Miss Chairman : A great deal has been said 



tEtje ©alue of ftnotoleDge* 23 

on the value of knowledge by very eminent men. Some 
of us can present the views of these writers better than 
we can our own. One of these I remember is : " Knowl- 
edge is like a lighthouse on a dangerous coast. " — 

QUAIFE. 

Minnie. Solon, one of the seven wise men of Greece, 
said: "A man that is rich in knowledge is rich in all 
things, for without it there is nothing, and with it w T hat 
can be wanting?" 

Davie. Yes, and Dr. Franklin said: "If a man 
empties his purse into his head no man can take it 
away from him; an investment in knowledge always 
pays the best interest." 

Katie. I saw this yesterday: "What lasting benefits 
come from knowledge? This is apparent on every 
page of the world's history." 

Fanny. Mrs. Burnett says: "Early knowledge is 
very valuable capital with which to set forth in life; it 
gives one an advantageous start." 

Susan. And this is what the ancient astronomer, Py- 
thagoras, said: "He that hath no knowledge of that 
which he ought to know is a brute among men; and he 
that knoweth no more than he hath need of is a man 
among brute beasts; and he that knoweth all that may 
be known is a god among men." 

Bertha. A German writer says: "Knowledge ex- 
pands the mind, exalts the faculties, refines the taste of 
pleasure, and opens innumerable sources of enjoyment." 
— Uffenbach. 

Helen. Sidney Smith wrote upon the "Pleasures of 
Knowledge," he says: "It is the ancient feeling of the 
human heart that knowledge is better than riches. 
To mark the course of human passions as they have 
flowed on in the ages that are passed; to see why na- 
tions have risen and why they have fallen; to speak 
of heat, and light, and the winds; to know what man 
has discovered in the heavens above and in the earth 



24 Special €xtxtiit$> 

beneath; to hear the chemist unfold the marvelous 
properties that the Creator has locked up in a speck of 
earth; to be told that there are worlds so distant from 
our own that the quickness of light traveling since the 
world's creation has never reached us, — it is worth 
while in the days of our youth to strive for this. 

"To wander in the creations of poetry, and grow 
warm again with that eloquence which has swayed the 
democracies of the Old World ; to go up with the great 
reasoners to the First Cause of all, and to perceive in 
the midst of all this dissolution and decay and cruel 
separation that there is one thing unchangeable, in- 
destructible, and everlasting; — it is surely worth while 
to pass sleepless nights for this; to give up for it labori- 
ous days; to spurn for it present pleasures; to endure 
for it afflicting poverty; to wade for it through dark- 
ness, and sorrow, and contempt, as the great spirits of 
the world have done in all ages and in all times. 

" A life of knowledge is not often a life of injury and 
crime. Whom does such a man oppress ? With whose 
happiness does he interfere ? Whom does his ambition 
destroy? In the pursuit of science he injures no man; 
in the acquisition of knowledge, he does good to all. 
Therefore, when I say love knowledge with a great love, 
a vehement love, what do I say but love innocence, 
love virtue, love purity of conduct, love that which if 
you are rich and great, will sanctify the Providence 
which has made you so, and make men call it justice; 
love that which, if you are poor, will render that pover- 
ty respectable; love that which will comfort you, adorn 
you, and never quit you; that which will make your 
motives great and honorable, love that which will make 
you fertile in resources, rich in imagination, strong in 
reasoning, prudent and powerful above your fellows in 
all your relations and in all the offices of life?" 

Kate. Miss Chairman : Little Nettie Moore knows a 
pretty verse about knowledge. 



Wfyt ©alue of fenotoleDge* 25 

Stella. Will you speak it, Nettie ? 
Nettie {a very small girl.) 

Deeper, deeper, let us toil, 

In the mines of knowledge, 
Nature's wealth and learning's spoil 

Win from school and college; 
Delve we there for richer gems 

Than the stars of diadems. 

Grace. I know one from the Bible: 

Wisdom hath builded her house; 

She hath hewn out her seven pillars; 

She hath killed her beasts; 

She hath mingled her wine; 

She hath also furnished her table; 

She hath sent forth her maidens; 

She crieth upon the high places of the city; 

Who'er is simple, let him turn in hither ; 

Come eat of the bread 

And drink of the wine I have mingled; 

Forsake the foolish and live, 

And go in the way of understanding, 

For by me thy days shall be multiplied, 

And the years of thy life shall be increased. 

Edgar. Miss Chairman: I give up. I did not ex- 
pect I should have to contradict so many wise old 
philosophers. I yield the point. Knowledge is a very 
desirable thing, but it is terrible hard work to get it. I 
wish some of those ancient wise men had thought to tell 
us how we might become wise and not work so hard as 
we do. 

Mabel. I can tell: 

"Little by little, " a small boy said, 

And each day the littles he stored in his head; 

Little by little in learning he grew, 

Learning each day a little that's new, 

Till at last the world in amazement cried : 

"How great is the man — how wondrous wise?" 



26 fepmai €vtvttets. 

Carrie. I know another something like that. It is: 

LEARN A LITTLE EVERY DAY. 

Little rills make wider streamlets, 

Streamlets swell the river's flow; 
Rivers join the mountain billows, 

Onward, onward as they go! 
Life is made of smallest fragments, 

Shade and sunshine, work a*nd play; 
So we may with greatest profit, 

Learn a little every day. 

Tiny seeds make countless harvests, 

Drops of rain compose the showers, 
Seconds make the flying minutes, 

And the minutes make the hours! 
Let us hasten then and catch them 

As they pass us on the way! 
And with honest, true endeavor, 

Learn a little every day. 

Let us read some striking passage; 

Cull a verse from every page; 
Here a line and there a sentence, 

'Gainst the lonely time of age! 
At our work, or by the wayside 

While the sun shines making hay; 

hen we may by help of study, 

Learn a little every day. 

Robert. I should like to hear Harriet Ives recite "King 
Solomon and the Bees." I heard her recite that 
nicely, beautifully. 

Harriet — 

KING SOLOMON AND THE BEES. 

When Solomon was reigning in his glory, 
Unto his throne the Queen of Sheba came 
To see the splendors of his court and bring 
Some fitting tribute to the mighty king. 



Wtyt ©alue of ftnotoieDge* 27 

Nor this alone; much had her highness heard 

What flowers of learning graced his royal speech, 
What gems of wisdom dropped with every word; 
What wholesome lessons he was wont to teach 
In pleasing proverbs ; and she wished in sooth, 
To know if rumor spoke the simple truth. 

And straight she held before the monarch's view, 

In either hand a radiant wreath of flowers; 
The one bedecked with every charming hue, 

Was newly culled from Nature's choicest bowers 
The other, no less fair in every part, 
Was the rare production of divinest art. 

"Which is the true and w T hich the false?" she said, 

Great Solomon was silent. All amazed, 
Each wondering courtier shook his puzzled head, 
While at the garlands long the monarch gazed, 
As one who sees a miracle, and fain 
For very rapture ne'er would speak again. 

"Which is the true?" once more the woman asked, 

Pleased at the fond amazement of the king, 
" So wise a head should not be hardly tasked, 
Most learned liege, with such a trivial thing." 
But still the sage was silent; it was plain, 
A deepening doubt perplexed the royal brain. 

While thus he pondered, presently he sees, 

Hard by the casement, — so the story goes — 
A little band of busy, bustling bees, 
Hunting for honey in a withered rose; 

The monarch smiled and raised his royal head 
"Open the window!" — that was all he said. 

The window opened at the king's command; 

Within the room the eager insects flew, 
And sought the flowers in Sheba's dexter (right) hand! 
And so the king and all his courtiers knew 
That was Nature's; and the baffled queen 
Returned to tell the wonders she had seen. 



28 £>praal €xtttigtg. 

My story teaches (every tale should bear 
A fitting moral) that the wise may find 
In trifles light as atoms in the air, 

Some useful lesson to enrich the mind, 
Some truth designed to profit or to please, 
As Israel's king learned wisdom from the bees. 

— John G. Saxe. 

Minnie. Charles Mackay has written a fine piece on 
"What Might be Done." I think every one would 
like to hear Clara recite it. 
Clara — 

What might be done if men were wise ! 
What glorious deeds, my suffering brother, 
Would they unite, 
In love and right, 
And cease their scorn for one another. 

Oppression's heart might be imbued 
With kindling drops of loving kindness, 

And knowledge pour 

From shore to shore, 
Light on the eyes of mental blindness. 

All Slavery, Warfare, Lies, and Wrong, 
All Vice and Crime might die together, 

And wine and corn 

To each man born, 
Be free as warmth in summer weather. 

The meanest wretch that ever trod, 
The deepest sunk in guilt and sorrow, 

Might stand erect 

In self-respect, 
And share the teeming world to-morrow. 

What might be done ? This might be done, 
And more than this, my suffering brother, 

More than the tongue 

E'er said or sung, 
If men were wise and loved each other, 

— Charles Mackay. 



Campbell €wti$t&. 29 

[The teacher enters quietly and some one whispers "Teacher 
has come." There is a general commotion. Stella rises and bows 
to her. Teacher comes forward.] 

Teacher. I have been listening and am pleased 
that you have improved the hour so well. We will sing, 
"We come! We come?" and then we will take a 
recess. 

(As they are all singing the teacher taps the bell, and 
all march out and take their regular seats. Then 
speeches may follow from visitors, and general matters 
pertaining to the close of school be attended to). 



Campbell Exercises. 



Gbomas Campbell, 

Born July 27, 1777. 
Died June 15, 1844. 



[Let the participants be seated on the platform or together in 
front of it, and rise in turn. It would be a good thing to have the 
historical events alluded to in the poems embodied in brief essays, 
and read in their appropriate place.] 

1st Pupil. Thomas Campbell was born and educated 
in Glasgow, Scotland. He began to write poetry when 
about 20 years old, and decided to devote himself to 
literature as a profession. For this purpose he went to 
Edinburgh, where he soon produced a poem that at- 
tracted much attention and brought him into the best 
society. 

2nd Pupil. The work was "The Pleasures of Hope," 
a long poem, which contains many historical allusions. 
One is to unfortunate Poland, that was seized by the 



30 Special €xtxti6t$> 

Russians, Prussians, and Austrians, and divided be- 
tween them. Campbell with others was very indignant 
over the injustice of this act; and writes thus of the 
fall of Kosciusko, the leader of the Poles at the battle 
of Warsaw: — 

Warsaw's last champion from her height surveyed 
Wide o'er the fields, a waste of ruin laid, — 
Oh! heaven! he cried, my bleeding country save! 
Is there no hand on high to shield the brave ? 
Yet, though destruction sweep these lovely plains, 
. Rise fellow-men! our country yet remains! 
By that dread name we wave the sword on high, 
Aad swear for her to live! — with her to die! 

He said, and on the rampart heights array'd 
His trusty warriors, few but undismayed; 
Firm-paced and slow, a horrid front they form, 
Still as the breeze, but dreadful in the storm ; 
Low murmuring sounds along their banners fly, 
Revenge or death, — the watchword and reply; 
Then pealed the notes, omnipotent to charm, 
And the loud tocsin tolled their last alarm. 

In vain, alas! in vain, ye gallant few! 
From rank to rank your volley' d thunder flew; 
Oh! bloodiest picture in the book of time, 
(Sarmatia fell, unwept, without a crime;) 
Found not a generous friend, a pitying foe, 
Strength in her arms, nor mercy in her woe! 
Dropp'd from her nerveless grasp the shattered spear, 
Closed her bright eye and curb'd her bright career; — 
Hope for a season bade the world farewell, 
And Freedom shriek' d — as Kosciusko fell! 

yd Pupil. The " Pleasures of Hope" brought the 
poet money as well as friends. This enabled him to 
travel, and while traveling in Saxony, he witnessed 
from the monastery of St. Jacob the battle of Hohenlin- 
den, fought between the French and Austrians. He 
describes it in the following noted poem: 



Campbell €xtttim. 31 

On Linden, when the sun was low, 
All bloodless lay the untrodden snow, 
And dark as winter was the flow 
Of Iser, rolling rapidly. 

But Linden saw another sight. 
When the drum beat at dead of night, 
Commanding fires of death to light, 
The darkness of the scenery. 

By torch and trumpet, fast arrayed, 
Each horseman drew his battle blade, 
And furious every charger neighed 
To join the dreadful revelry. 

Then shook the hills, with thunder riven, 
Then rushed the steed, to battle driven, 
And louder than the bolts of heaven, 
Far flashed the red artillery. 

But redder yet that light shall glow 
On Linden's hills of blood-stained snow, 
And bloodier yet the torrent flow 
Of Iser, rolling rapidly. 

'Tis morn, but scarce yon level sun, 
Can pierce the war-clouds, rolling dun, 
Where furious Frank and fiery Hun 
Shout in their sulphurous canopy. 

The combat deepens. On ye brave, 
Who rush to glory or the grave! 
Wave Munich, all thy banners wave! 
And charge with all thy chivalry. 

Few, few shall part where many meet, 
The grave shall be their winding sheet, 
And every sod beneath their feet 
Shall be a soldier's sepulcher. 



32 Special €xtxti8t8. 

dflt Pupil. Another famous battle Campbell has 
" celebrated in song" — the battle of Bannockburn, 
where the Scots, under Robert Bruce, gained that 
glorious victory over the English: 

Wide o'er Bannock's heathy wold 
Scotland's dreadful banners roll'd 
And spread their wings of sprinkled gold, 
To the purpling east. 

Freedom beamed in every eye; 
Devotion breathed in every sigh; 
Freedom heaved their souls on high, 
And steeled each hero's breast. 

Charging then the coursers sprang, 
Sword and helmet clashing rang, 
Steel-clad warriors, mixing clang 
Echoed round the field. 

Dreadful see their eyeballs glare* 
See the nerves of battle bare! 
Arrowy tempests cloud the air, 
And glance from every shield. 

See how red the streamlets flow! 
See the reeling yielding foe, 
How they melt at every blow ! 
Yet we shall be free! 

Darker yet the strife appears; 
Forest dread of flaming spears! 
Hark! a shout the welkin tears! 
Bruce has victory. 

$th Pupil. Perhaps the most noted of Campbell poems 
is "Lochiel's Warning." Lochiel was the chief of a 
Scottish clan in the time of George II. of England. 
Charles the Pretender tried to raise an insurrection in 
Scotland, and Lochiel joined him. The wizard in the 



Campbell (fcrttttitg. 33 

poem is represented as foretelling the defeat which 
overtook Charles at the battle of Culloden. He says: 
(Addressing 6th pupil, who rises) 

Lochiel, Lochiel ! beware of the day 
When the Lowlands shall meet thee in battle array! 
For a field of the dead rushes red on my sight, 
And the clans of Culloden are scattered in flight. 
They rally, they bleed for their kingdom and crown! 
Woe, woe to the riders that trample them down! 
Proud Cumberland prances insulting the slain, 
And their hoof-beaten bosoms are trod to the plain. 
But hark! through the fast flashing lightning of war, 
What steed to the desert flies frantic and far ? 
'Tis thine, oh Genullin! whose bride shall await, 
Like a love-lighted watch-fire all night at the gate. 
A steed comes at morning; no rider is there; 
But its bridle is red with the sign of despair. 
Weep Albin! to death and captivity led! 
Oh weep! but thy tears cannot number the dead; 
For a merciless sword on Culloden shall wave, 
Culloden! that reeks with the blood of the brave. 

6th pupil — 

Go preach to the coward thou death-telling seer! 
Or if gory Culloden so dreadful appear, 
Draw dotard around thy old wavering sight 
This mantle, to cover the phantoms of fright. 

$th pupil — 

Ha! laugh'st thou, Lochiel, my vision to scorn? 
Proud bird of the mountain, thy plume shall be torn! 
Say, rushed the bold eagle exultingly forth, 
From his home in the dark rolling clouds of the north ? 

Lo ! the death shot of foemen out speeding he rode, 
Companionless, bearing destruction abroad; 
But down let him stoop from his havoc on high ; 
Ah! home let him speed, — for the spoiler is nigh, 
Why flames the far summit ? Why shoot to the blast 
Those embers like stars from the firmament cast ? 



34 Special (Bxtttists. 

'Tis the fire shower of ruin, all dreadfully driven 
From his eyrie, that beacons the darkness of heaven. 
Oh! crested Lochiel! the peerless in might, 
Whose banners arise on the battlements height, 
Heaven's fire is around thee, to blast and to burn; 
Return to thy dwelling, all lonely return! 
For the blackness of ashes shall mark were it stood, 
And a wild mother scream o'er her famishing brood. 

6th pupil — 

False wizard, avaunt! I have marshalled my clan; 
Their swords are a thousand! their bosoms are one; 
They are true to the last of their blood and their breath, 
And like reapers descend to the harvest of death. 

Then welcome be Cumberland's steed to the shock! 
Let him dash his proud foam like a wave on the rock! 
But woe to his kindred, and woe to his cause, 
When Albin her claymore indignantly draws; 
When her bonneted chieftains to victory crowd, 
Clanranald, the dauntless, and Moray, the proud, 
All plaided and plumed in their tartan array — 

$th pupil — 

Lochiel, Lochiel! beware of the day! 

For dark and despairing, my sight I may seal, 

But man cannot cover what God would reveal; 

'Tis the sunset of life gives me mystical lore; 

And coming events cast their shadows before. 

I tell thee Culloden's dread echoes shall ring 

With the bloodhounds that bark for thy fugitive king. 

Lo! anointed by Heaven with the vials of wrath, 

Behold, where he flies on his desolate path! 

Now in darkness and billows he sweeps from my sight; 

Rise, rise! ye wild tempests and cover his flight. 

'Tis finished. Their thunders are hushed on the moors; 
Culloden is lost> and my country deplores. 
But where is the iron-bound prisoner ? Where ? 
For the red eye of battle is shut in despair, 



Campbell €xtui&t&. 35 

Say, mounts he the ocean wave, banished, forlorn, 
Like a limb from his country cast bleeding and torn ? 
Ah, no ! for a darker departure is near ; 
The war-drum is muffled, and black is his bier; 
His death-bell is tolling; Oh! mercy, dispel 
Yon sight that it freezes my spirit to tell! 
Life flutters convulsed in his quivering limbs. 
And his blood-streaming nostrils in agony swims. 
Accursed be the fagots that blaze at his feet, x 

Where his heart shall be thrown ere it ceases to beat, 
With the smoke of its ashes to poison the gale — 

6th pupil — 

Down soothless insulter! I trust not the tale; 

For never shall Albin a destiny meet 

So black with dishonor, so foul with retreat. 

Though my perishing ranks should be strewed in their gore, 

Like ocean weeds heaped on the surf-beaten shore, 

Lochiel untainted by flight or by chains, 

While the kindling of life in his bosom remains, 

Shall victor exult, or in death be laid low, 

With his back to the field, and his feet to the foe! 

And leaving in battle no blot on his name, 

Look proudly to heaven from the death-bed of fame. 

jth Pupil. After his return from his travels, Camp- 
bell continued to write for the press, supporting his 
mother and sisters, as well as his own family with his 
earnings. Besides his poems and contributions to 
newspapers and magazines, he wrote a "History of the 
Reign of George III.," collected material for his " Speci- 
mens of British Poets," edited Colburn's Magazine for 
ten years, and started the Metropolitan Magazine. His 
second long poem is " Gertrude of Wyoming," pub- 
lished in 1809. His later poems were inferior to his 
earlier ones. He was much depressed by the defeat 
of the Poles, in whom he took an enthusiastic interest. 
About the same time his wife died, and his son became 
insane. These afflictions, with the knowledge that he 
had lost his poetic art made the last years of his life sad 



36 Special €xtni$t#. 

ones. Yet he kept busy writing and traveling until 
shortly before his death. 



Thanksgiving Exercises. 

8 IK 

i Nov i 



[Teacher. — The people of our country feel that they ought to 
express their gratitude to their Creator by setting apart one day for 
giving thanks for gifts, enjoyments, and blessings. We as a school 
have met for this purpose and I will ask all who have thoughts suit- 
able for the occasion to let us hear them.] 

i. Recitation: — By a Little Girl. 

Why should we be thankful? We have so many 
things to be thankful for, I cannot tell them all. We 
are thankful for the lovely spring with grass and butter- 
cups and daisies. Then comes summer, with roses 
and long days to play in, — and autumn, with her lap 
full of fruit and grain and nuts. I want to be thankful 
for all of them, but most of all for my dear father and 
mother, kind teachers, and happy school-mates. 

2. Recitation: — For what are we thankful? 

For the blessings of the field, 

For the stores the gardens yield; 

For the fruits in full supply, 

Ripened 'neath the summer sky; 
Flocks that whiten all the plain, 
Yellow sheaves of ripened grain; 

Clouds that drop their fattening dews, 

Suns that temperate warmth diffuse,— 



{E^anfesgtomg €xtui&t&. 37 

All that spring with bounteous hand 
Scatters o'er the smiling land, 
All that liberal autumn pours 
From her rich o'erflowing stores. 

3. Teacher. — What does President say about 

Thanksgiving Day? 

4. A pupil reads the President's Proclamation. 

5. Singing: 

My Country! 'tis of thee, etc. 

6. Teacher* — What does the Governor of our State 
say about Thanksgiving Day ? 

7. A pupil reads the Governor's Proclamation. 

8. Recitation: — The poet Whittier has this to say 
about the pumpkin which is used on Thanksgiving 
Days: 

What moistens the lip — and what lightens the eye ? 
What calls back the past like the rich pumpkin pie ? 

O, — fruit loved of boyhood! — the old days recalling. 
When wood-grapes were purpling and brown nuts were fall- 
ing. 
When wild, ugly faces we carved in its skin, 
Glaring out through the dark with a candle within! 
When we laughed round the corn-heap, with hearts all in 

tune, 
Our chair a broad pumpkin — our lantern, the moon. 
Telling tales of the fairy who traveled like steam, 
In a pumpkin-shell coach, with two rats for her team! 
Now the prayer, which my mouth is too full to express, 
Swells my heart — that thy shadow may never grow less, 
That the days of thy lot may be brightened below, 
And the fame of thy worth like a pumpkin vine grow, 
And thy life be as sweet, and its last sunset sky 
Gold tinted and fair as thy own pumpkin pie! 



38 Special €vttttet& 

9. Sentiments: 

[By different pupils rising in their seats.] 

First Pupil. Thanksgiving and joy cause singing, 
leaping, dancing. It is a lively joy that fills the bosoms 
of those who have it and makes them happy. 

Second Pupil. Thanksgiving dwells in the heart, not 
on the tongue or in the stomach. 

Third Pupil. Thankfulness is not thanksgiving. 

Fourth Pupil. I borrow my thanksgiving from my 
heart not from my dinner. 

Fifth Pupil. Do not wait for a special day in which 
to be thankful. He who waits for thanksgiving day to 
be thankful will not be thankful when it comes. 

Sixth Pupil. Plato said: " I thank God I was born a 
man not a beast: a Grecian not a Barbarian," but I 
thank God that I was born an American instead of 
Hindu. 

Seventh Pupil. Thanksgiving makes a crust sweet — 
the want of it a turkey bitter. 

Eighth Pupil. The way to get more favors is to be 
thankful for those we have. 

Ninth Pupil. Thankfulness will not come unless 
called. 

10. Singing: — 

Tune. — Shall we Gather at the River. 

We shall see the brighter beaming 
Of an era on the way, 
Even now its dawn is gleaming 
Soon will burst the glorious day. 

Chorus, — Yes the victory is nearing! 

The victory, the victory is nearing 
Shouts of gladness we are hearing 
From the hosts our schools make free. 






We shall see the young and gifted 
Standing forth in manly strength 
And the people all be lifted 
To a purer life at length. 

11. Recitation: — 

Behold the fallen autumn leaves 
Lie scattered where the ripened grain 
Was gathered up in golden sheaves 
From valley, hill, and distant plain. 

Then children, haste, the skies are clear, 
This day resounds the glad refrain, 
The harvesters from far and near, 
Have gathered up the golden grain. 

12. Recitation: — 

Sowing in the morning, sowing seeds of kindness, 
Sowing in the noontide, and the dewy eves ; 
Waiting for the harvest, and the time of reaping, 
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves. 

13. Recitation: — Burns says: 

Some hae meat that canna eat, 
And some would eat that want it; 
But we hae meat and we can eat, 
Sae let the Lord be thank'et. 

14. Teacher. For what should we be most thankful? 

[Here a few pupils might be trained to take up single themes as 
Health, Food, Friends, and give a verse to sustain the subject.] 

[Teacher. — A spirit of thankfulness is always to be encouraged. 
Let us try to feel thankful every day. I thank you heartily for 
your kind co-operation this afternoon.] 



40 Special €xtui$t&. 

Christmas Exercises. 

I. THE GREETING. 

Dear parents and friends, we greet you to-night, 

With words of good cheer and with songs of delight; 

We come from the valley of innocent joy; 

We know not the cares that the heart may annoy; 

It is the glad occasion when both the old and young 

In one loud voice of harmony send up their grateful song. 

Welcome, welcome is the greeting, 

Which this night we give our friends, 
Joyous, joyous is the meeting 

Which your kindly presence lends. 
Love is still our richest treasure, 

Casting out all earth-born fear; 
Let the smile of heartfelt pleasure 

Beam on all who gather here. 

2. RECITATION BY A YOUNG MAN OR YOUNG LADY: — 
KING CHRISTMAS. 

He is come! he is come! a monarch he, 
By his broad bright reign over land and sea; 
. A king with more than a kingly sway, 
For he wields a sceptre that hearts obey; 
He comes to us with a song and shout, 
And a tinkle of laughter round about, 

And a rhyme of bells 

That sways and swells 
Cheerily under the faint, brief blue, 
That crowding at nightfall, the stars look through; 
He comes in joy to our household ring; 
Meet him, and greet him, and crown him king. 

To lowly cottage and lordly hall, 

He comes with a blessing for each and all* 



Christmas €xttti$t$. 41 

He holds his court by the blazing hearth, 
For he loves the music of household mirth. 
The boys all hail him with shout and glee, 
For a rare boy-loving old king is he ; 

They deck their homes, 

And watch as he comes 
Down the dark of the winter night; 
They weave him a garland of holly bright; 
For he comes with gifts to their joyous ring: 
Then meet him, and greet him, and crown him king. 

He mends the links in Love's broken chain, 
And drifting hearts are drawn near again; 
He brings us back, amid smiles and tears, 
Our dear ones, over the gulf of years: 
He sings to us echoes, sweet and low, 
Of the song that was sung so long ago, 

To the shepherds of old, 

As they watched the fold. 
Of "peace on earth" and to men "good will," 
And softly the same sweet story still, 
King Christmas tells in our social ring; 
Then meet him, and greet him, and crown him king. 

3. SNOW-FLAKES. 

For six children dressed in white. 

1. We are Love's winter angels; 

When earth is bare and brown 
We cover all her wounds and scars 
With mantles soft as down. 

2. Above the sleeping roses, 

Above the wildwood flowers, 
We spread our warm and shining robes 
Through all the winter hours. 

3. The long and lonely meadows 

That lose their blossoms bright, 
And weep for all their loveliness, 
We veil, with glittering white; 



42 special €wti&t&. 

4. The forest boughs that shudder, 

All knotted black and bare, 
We hang with flowers like bridal bowers, 
The blossom bells of air. 

5. We are Love's little angels, 

But mortal eyes are dim — 

Men cannot see how fair we be, 

Nor hear our joyful hymn. 

6. We are Love's shrouded angels; 

But birds and blossoms know 
When God's dear love falls from above, 
Though boys may call it snow. 



4. SONG: — THE CHRISTMAS WELCOME. 

May be sung to the tune 0} " Tramp, tramp, tramp." 
1} recited omit the chorus. 

When the summer-time is passed and the harvest housed at 
last, 
And the woods are standing bare and brown and sere; 
When the frost is sharp at night, and the days are short 
and bright, 
Comes the gladdest, merriest time of all the year. 

Chorus — Shout, boys, shout, the hearty welcome! 
Greet old Christmas with a roar 
He has met us with good cheer for this many a 
merry year, 
And we hope he'll meet us all for many more! 

Let the tempest rage without, let its blast be wild and stout, 
What care we ? Our hearts are stouter still and strong, 

And within 'tis warm and light, and kind eyes are shining 
bright, 
And the voices of our friends are in our song. 
Chorus — Shout, boys, shout, etc. 



Cfjrtetmas <&wti&t&. 43 

There's a rare and ancient rhyme tells that at the Christ- 
mas time, 
Evil spirits flee away from all the earth, 
That no wicked word may jar, and no sinful work may 
mar, 
And no sorrow cast a shade on mortal mirth. 
Chorus — Shout, boys, shout, etc. 

Then away with every cloud that our pleasure might 
enshroud, 
And away with every word and look unkind; 
Let old quarrels all be healed, and old friendships closer 
sealed, 
And our lives with sweeter, purer ties entwined. 
Chorus — Shout, boys, shout, etc. 

Since we know the blessed power of this happy Christmas 
hour, 

We will keep its holy spell upon our heart, 
That each evil thing within that would tempt us into sin, 

May forever from our peaceful souls depart. 

Chorus — Shout, boys, shout, etc. 



5. RECITATION BY A BOY: UNCLE SKINFLINT'S 

CHRISTMAS GIFT. 

Christmas is very near, and everybody expects Christ- 
mas presents, of course. There's my niece Eleanor, 
saying to herself: "I wonder what Uncle Skinflint is 
going to give me." That is the worst of being worth 
money. People always expect you to be giving. Well, 
I'll surprise them this time, for I'm one of those who 
don't give often, but do something worth while when 
they start out. Eleanor has no piano. I'll give her 
one — a grand piano, with carved legs. That and 
a nice stool I can get for a thousand dollars, and 
I'll send it home on Christmas night with my love — 
" Uncle Skinflint's love." No; that won't do, for the 



44 Special €xtxtiit&. 

poor girl really needs a cloak; and for three or four 
hundred dollars I can give her a real sealskin that 
would last her a lifetime. Yes — no — let me see. 
Sealskin may go out of fashion, besides they aie too 
warm for this climate. I will buy her a sewing-machine 
and then she can make herself a new cloak every year, 
if she likes, and frocks, and aprons, and all sorts of 
things. I'll get one for seventy-five or eighty dollars ; 
very nice present. 

And yet, now I think of it — what a pretty watch 
Huff, the jeweler, showed me the other day. A watch 
— yes, a watch for fifty dollars. I'll get that. But that 
won't do, for she'll forget to wind it up. What's the 
use of a watch that is not wound ? Now, a good merino 
dress, what a comfort that would be! A nice blue, or 
dark-red merino. No — that wouldn't be wise. Second 
thoughts are best. It is December. In four months it 
will be too warm for merino. But gloves, now — say, 
half a dozen assorted colors in a box. But I don't know 
Eleanor's number. Besides, I have heard that the cheap 
kind split. But pocket handkerchiefs with colored 
borders are nice. A dozen at twenty cents each would 
please her. Nothing could be more useful. There's 
an objection though; she's always losing her handker- 
chiefs. Whatever I give her, I want her to keep to re- 
member me by when I am gone. When I was in the 
" Seven-cent Store" the other day, I saw some nice 
nutmeg graters — bronze, with a little hole to hang them 
up by, and a box for the nutmeg — only seven cents. 
I'm glad I remember it. I'll get her one of those. It 
will encourage her to make cake and puddings. And 
an egg beater! I'll buy her both; and as I'm never 
mean, I'll throw in a nutmeg. It's the best bargain 
you can get for fifteen cents. And as she's going to be 
married, nothing can be more appropriate. Eleanor 
will feel that I am sure. I'll go and buy them at once. 



Ct)rtetntas €xttti&t&. 45 



6. A reading: — THE children of the year. 

(Young lady at one side 0} the stage reads and each 
enters, bows, and walks off. Or a frame may be made 
in which each stands behind a door that is opened by the 
reader; when she -finishes the reading she shuts the door, 
waits a jew moments and then opens it to display the next, 
and so on. January enters, dressed in long cloak, 
trimmed with fur; fur cap — with military appearance.) 

January! tall and bold, 
Stern of features, distant cold, 
Is the eldest of my band — 
Shake him warmly by the hand. 
For his heart is good and true ; 
He is planning something new, 
Always, for his home and friends. 
Cold and distant though he be, 
He is very dear to me. 

(February, as a small boy, with skates over his shoul- 
ders, and drawing a sled.) 

February next in years, 
As a little boy appears; 
He's so very short and small; 
But he's sturdy after all. 
He can skate and coast and slide, 
And his sisters in their pride 
Greet him warmly, for they know 
He must brave the winter's snow. 

(March comes in roughly, sliding on stage, dressed in 
flowing scarf, mittens, cap, etc., boisterous.) 

Slipping, sliding into view, 

Here comes March! How do you do? 

He's a noisy boy as ever 

Breathed the breath of life, for never 






46 Special €wti£t&. 

Is he still unless he's sleeping. 

" Stormy March," is oft his greeting, 

Yet he's kind as he can be, 

And his heart is full of glee. 

(April — slender girl — blue eyes, light hair, flowing — 
dressed in pale green.) 

Next comes April, fretful child, 
Sweet at times, then cross and wild; 
Cries a great deal, then she's sunny. 
All her brothers call her " Funny," 
But she has a loving face, 
And her form is full of grace; 
Bright blue eyes and sunny hair 
Fall to pretty April's share. 

(May — young girl — smiling — pretty — dressed in sim- 
ple white dress — trimmed with long grass — cut from 
tissue paper. Buttercups and daisies in her hands.) 

Here comes lovely, laughing May. 
What can she have done to-day ? 
Roaming o'er the meadows sweet, 
With the daisies at her feet, 
And the buttercups so gay, 
Smiling at her all the way. 
Little May's a favored child, 
Gentle, loving, meek, and mild. 

(June — elaborately dressed in trailing white — much 
trimmed with flowers and jewels. Crown and flowers 
on her head.) 

June is queen among them all; 
Roses blossom at her call ; 
All her paths are strewn with flowers, 
Through the long, bright, sunny hours. 
Lovely June, with gentle hand, 
Scatters blessings o'er the land, 
Paints the roses, white and red, 



While the pansies in their bed 
Open wide their sleepy eyes. 
June has such a happy way, 
That the neighbors always say, 
"Come again another day." 

{July appears as a young man, in working dress, col- 
lar open — broad straw hat — scythe on shoulder — walks 
as though fatigued — dusty shoes, etc., etc.) 

Panting with the noontide heat, 
Thirsty, tired, with weary feet, 
Comes July, my brave July, 
Rising early as the dawn, 
While the dew is on the lawn, 
Off he goes with whistle gay, 
To the meadows far away, 
Where the grass and clover bloom, 
Yielding up their sweet perfume. 

{August as tall young man — all dressed for travel — 
large umbrella — satchel, etc.) 

August says: " The ripened grain 
Is all garnered from the rain, 
Let us go and have a play, 
By the seaside, far away, 
Where there is no work to fear, 
We will rest, and dream, and hear 
What the voices of the sea 
Have to say to you and me." 

{September comes in quickly, sheaf of grain or grass 
on shoulder — fruit in shallow basket, or hanging from 
his shoulders. Loose, light garments — white turban — 
Syrian appearance.) 

September appears with a bounding rush, 

That seems to say: 
" I can put your merriest one to the blush 

At work or play!" 



48 Special €xtttim* 

He fills our mouths with his grapes and pears; 
He rattles our nuts about his ears; 
He gathers his apples and binds his sheaves, 
While the days whirl by like the whirling leaves; 

Say who could be 

Better company 
Than gay September, for you and me. 

(October dressed in white, trimmed with autumn 
leaves and grass — palate in hand with brushes.) 

October comes in late, you must excuse her — she has 
been up all night upon the river, and on the hill-tops, 
seeking a place where she may now begin her autumn 
painting. All through the day she's painting pears and 
apples, but when the evening comes she sallies forth 
with brush and palette, to brighten up the fading leaves 
and grasses. 

(November — tall young lady, dressed in brown, veil 
hanging from head — very pale and sad — moves very 
slowly.) 

Ah ! here's November — she's the saddest child I have; 
she hardly ever smiles, and makes all other people sad 
about her. Nobody loves November, and yet she has 
charms which all my other children might be proud 
to have. 

(December in long overcoat — sprinkled freely with cot- 
ton for snow — muffled to protect from cold — represents 
winter.) 

December! last of all — he loves a frolic just as well as 
any one I know— and, like his elder brothers, he can 
skate and slide. He loves the winter, — and is happiest 
in a snowstorm ; he revels in the drifts, and thinks the 
cold North wind is nothing but a plaything. I love 
them all — each is my favorite child, — a fonder, happier 
mother never lived. 

(All stand in a semi-circle — curtain falls.) 



Christmas €vmist$. 49 



9. ACROSTIC. 

(For children, dressed in white, each one having sus- 
pended around the neck a gold letter on a blue ground. 
At the close of each recitation the card is turned, show- 
ing the letter.) 

1. Merry the children under the castle wall 
Sing carols gay, to cheer both great and small. 

2. Each Christmas as it comes brings us cold ringers, 
blue noses, and red cheeks, but we do not mind that, 
for it also gives us snow T -balls, snow-houses and snow- 
men. 

3. Rough blows the wind, snow-showers far and near, 

Drift without echo to the whitening ground. 
Autumn has passed away, and cold and drear 
Winter steps in with frozen mantle bound. 

4. Roll on, Old Year! you have done your work well; 

You have gathered up gold, 
To fill us with cheer! Roll on, Old Year. 

5. Yes, the new years come, and the old years go, 

Slowly and silently to and fro. 
Little by little the longest day 
And the longest life will pass away, 
As the new years come, and the old years go. 

6. Christmas comes but once a yea::, 

But coming, may it bring 

Plenty of cheer and happiness, 

And every pleasant thing. 

7. High and low 

The winter winds blow — 
They fill the hollows with drifts of snow, 

And sweep on the hill-tops a pathway clear, 
As they hurry the children along to school, 

And whistle for Christmas and glad New Year. 



50 Special €xmi8t& 

8. Ring out, sweet bells, on this winter's night, 

And tell the same old story: 
Christmas has come with all its fun, 
And skating with its glory. 

9. In comes Christmas, like a king, 

Dressed in white and crowned with gold; 
In his kindly arms he brings, 
Gifts of love for old and young. 

10. Sleigh-bells are ringing; 

Children are singing, 
Carols that tell of the glad Christmas-tide. 
Do we remember 
The month of December 
Brings us more joy than all months beside? 

n. The wild flowers are all warmly tucked up in 
their beds this cold winter weather, and Mother 
Nature is rocking them to sleep. 

12. Merry Christmas! What a welcome sound! It 
tells of holidays and frolics, snow-balls and skating. 

13. A happy Christmas to you! 

May it bring you all fair things, 
With the sweetest, best remembrance, 
That about its coming clings. 

14. Sweet memories come and nestle in our hearts, of 
by-gone Christmas times. 

Ere this departs, may it give something dear to gar- 
ner up, and fill our hearts with cheer. 



IO. BOUNDARY OF CHRISTMAS. 

By a small boy. 

Christmas is bounded on the north by Happiness, 
Good Wishes, Oyster Lake, and the Isthmus of Cran- 
berry Sauce; on the east, by the peninsula of Turkey 



£>tgournei? Manorial 2Da£* 51 

and ocean of Goodies; on the south by Mince Pies, 
Jellies, and Cakes; on the west by Pleasant Words, from 
which it is separated by the mountains of Cheerfulness. 
The capitals of Christmas are Peace and Good Will, on 
the Christmas-tree River. 

Dear teachers, friends, and schoolmates, we are now 
on the border of this happy country, and before enter- 
ing we wish you all a " Merry Christmas and a Happy 
New Year." 

II. SINGING. 



Sigourney Memorial Day. 

m Born Sept. i, 1761. W 

Died June 10, 1865. 



[Such material is here presented as might not be readily found by 
teachers who do not have access to a good library. Most school 
readers contain familiar selections from this author, among which is 
"The Rain Lesson," beginning, " Mother, it rains, and tears like 
rain fell down," that may be used in addition to these. The plan 
of the exercise is left with the teacher. — Eds.] 

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 

Mrs. Sigourney was born in Hartford, Conn. As a 
child she was remarkably bright. She could read when 
but three years old. In her ninth year she composed 
some verses that surprised her family with their excel- 
lence. At twenty-four she published a volume of 
poems, " Moral Pieces in Prose and Verse. " She after- 
wards published a number of works, some prose and 



5 2 Special €xttti$t&. 

some poetry ; among the latter was a volume of poetry 
for children. She lived to be seventy-four years old, 
and was noted for her benevolence; one-tenth of her 
income she gave to charitable objects. 



BERNARDINE DU BORN. 

King Henry sat upon his throne, 

Arid full of wrath and scorn, 
His eye a recreant knight survey'd — 

Sir Bernardine du Born. 
And he that haughty glance returned, 

Like lion in his lair, 
While loftily his unchang'd brow 

Gleamed through his crisped hair. 

"Thou art a traitor to the realm, 

Lord of a lawless band ; 
The bold in speech, the fierce in broil, 

The troubler of our land. 
Thy castles and thy rebel-towers 

Are forfeit to the crown, 
And thou beneath the Norman axe, 

Shalt end thy base renown. 

'' Deign'st thou no word to bar thy doom, 

Thou with strange madness fired ? 
Hath reason quite forsook thy breast ? " 

Plantagenet inquired. 
Sir Bernard turned him toward the king, 

He blenched not in his pride ; 
" My reason failed, my gracious liege, 

The year Prince Henry died." 

Quick at that name a cloud of woe 
Pass'd o'er the monarch's brow; 

^Touched was that bleeding chord of love, 
To which the mightiest bow» 



£>tgourne£ spnuortal sr>ap* 53 

Again swept back the tide of years, 

Again his first-born moved, — 
The fair, the graceful, the sublime, 

The erring, yet beloved. 

And ever, cherished by his side, 

One chosen friend was near, 
To share in boyhood's ardent sport, 

Or youth's untam'd career. 
With him the merry chase he sought, 

Beneath the dewy morn; 
With him in knightly tourney rode 

This Bernardine du Born. 



Then in the mourning father's soul 

Each trace of ire grew dim; 
And what his buried idol loved 

Seemed cleansed of guilt to him; — 
And faintly through his tears he spake, 

" God send His grace to thee, 
And, for the dear sake of the dead, 

Go forth — unscathed and free." 



INDIAN NAMES. 

i. Ye say they all have passed away, 

That noble race and brave: 
That their light canoes have vanished 

From off the crested wave; 
That 'mid the forests where they roamed, 

There rings no hunter's shout; 
But their name is on your waters, 

Ye may not wash it out. 

2. 'Tis where Ontario's billow 

Like ocean's surge is curled, 
Where strong Niagara's thunders wake 
The echo of the world. 



54 Special exercises* 

Where red Missouri bringeth 
Rich tribute from the West, 

And Rappahannock sweetly sleeps 
On green Virginia's breast. 

3. Ye say their cone-like cabins, 

That clustered o'er the vale, 
Have fled away like withered leaves 

Before the autumn gale; 
But their memory liveth on your hills, 

Their baptism on your shore, 
Your everlasting rivers speak 

Their dialect of yore. 

4. Old Massachusetts wears it 

Upon her lordly crown, 
And broad Ohio bears it 

Amid his young renown; 
Connecticut hath wreathed it 

Where her quiet foliage waves; 
And bold Kentucky breathed it hoarse 

Through all her ancient caves. 

5. Wachusetts hides its lingering voice 

Within his rocky heart; 
And Alleghany graves its tone 

Throughout his lofty chart; 
Monadnock, on his forehead hoar, 

Doth seal the sacred trust; 
Your mountains build their monument, 

Though ye destroy their dust. 

6. Ye call these red-brown brethren 

The insects of an hour, 
Crushed like the noteless worm amid 

The regions of their power; 
Ye drive them from their fathers' lands, 

Ye break of faith the seal; 
But can ye from the court of Heaven 

Exclude their last appeal ? 



JLongfelloto (fymi&t&. 55 

. Ye see their unresisting tribes, 

With toilsome step and slow, 
On through the trackless desert pass, 

A caravan of woe ; 
Think ye the Eternal Ear is deaf ? 

His sleepless vision dim ? 
Think ye the souVs blood may not cry 

From that far land to Him ? 

NIAGARA. 

Flow on forever in thy glorious robe 
Of terror and of beauty; God hath set 
His rainbow on thy forehead, and the cloud 
Mantles around thy feet. And He doth give 
Thy voice of thunder power to speak of Him 
Eternally, bidding the lips of man 
Keep silence, and upon thy rocky altar pour 
Incense of awe-struck praise. 



Longfellow Exercises. 

$ § 

I *enrE m Longfellow, | 

« Born Feb. 27, 1807. IK 

IK S 

§g Died March 24, 1882. £ 



1. Henry W. Longfellow was born in Portland, Maine. He 
graduated from Bowdoin College, in a class including Hawthorne, 
Cheever, Abbott, and others who have become distinguished in 
literature. 

2. While in college he wrote several short poems and distinguished 
himself in modern languages. After leaving college he visited 
Europe. He was professor in Harvard College for seventeen years, 
but few knew him as a professor ; thousands have known him as 
a poet, and thousands are born every year who will read and 
enjoy his poetry all their lives. 



56 Special €xtvtigt8. 

3. The poet's house at Cambridge, Mass., was located on the 
spot which was the headquarters of General Washington when he 
took command of the American Army, in 1775. His study has been 
thus described: — "His table is piled with pamphlets and papers in 
orderly confusion; an orange- tree stands in one window; near it 
a stuffed stork keeps watch; by the side of the fire is the 'Children's 
Chair.' And in one of the bookcases, are, rarest treasures of all, 
the poet's own works in their original manuscript, carefully preserved 
in handsome and substantial bindings. Here, too, one may see 
the pen presented by 'beautiful Helen of Maine.' Upon the stair- 
case is the old clock, which 'points and beckons with its hands. "* 

4. He has recently been honored by the erection of his bust in 
the Poet's Corner in Westminister Abbey; the first memorial ever 
placed there of other than a British-born subject. The words of 
U. S. Minister Lowell, at the ceremony of unveiling the bust, fitly 
describe the poet's character: — "His nature was consecrated ground, 
into which no unclean spirit could ever enter." 

Selections from his writings. 

5. Live up to the best that is in you; live noble lives, 
as you all may, in whatever condition you may find 
yourselves, so that your epitaph may be that of Eu- 
ripides: — "This monument does not make thee fam- 
ous, O Euripides! but thou makest this monument 
famous. 9y 

6. Whene'er a noble deed is wrought, 
Whene'er is spoken a noble thought, 

Our hearts in glad surprise 
To higher levels rise. 

7. Honor to those whose words or deeds 
Thus help us in our daily needs; 

And by their overflow 
Raise us from what is low. 

8. The heights by great men reached and kept, 
Were not attained by sudden flight, 

But they, while their companions slept 
Were toiling upward in the night. 

9. Look not mournfully into the past, — it comes not 
back again: wisely improve the present, — it is thine; 



ILongfelloto €xtxti$t$. 57 

go forth to meet the shadowy future without fear and 
with a manly heart. 

10. Build me straight, O worthy master! 
Staunch and strong, a goodly vessel, 
That shall laugh at all disaster, 

And with waves and whirlwind wrestle. 

11. Study yourselves, and most of all note well 
Wherein kind nature meant you to excel. 

12. The talent of success is nothing more than doing 
what you can do well, and doing well whatever you do 
without thought of fame. If it comes at all it will come 
because it is deserved — not because it is sought after. 

13. Man is unjust, but God is just, and finally justice 
triumphs. 

14. The poem — "The Children's Hour/' recited or 
read, by a pupil. 

15. The poem — "The Children," recited or read. 

Longfellow's Alphabet. 

(These quotations may be given by the pupils in concert, or in- 
dividually.) 

a. As turning the logs will make a dull fire burn, so change 
of study a dull brain. 

b. By the cares of yesterday 
Each to-day is heavier made. 

c. Christ-like is it for sin to grieve, 
God-like is it all sin to leave. 

d. Do thy duty; that is best 
Leave unto thy Lord the rest. 

e. Each thing in its place is best. 
/. For the structure that we raise, 

Time is with material filled. 
g. God is not dead, nor doth He sleep 
The Wrong shall fail, 
The Right prevail. 
With peace on earth, good will' to men. 



58 Special €mtim. 

h. He who serves well and speaks not, merits more 

Than they who clamor loudest at the door. 
i. If you wish a thing to be done well, you must do it 
yourself. 

/. Joy hath an undertone of pain, 

And even the happiest hours their sighs. 
k. Know how sublime a thing it is 

To suffer and grow strong. 
/. Labor with what zeal we will, 

Something still remains undone. 
m. Make the house where gods may dwell, 

Beautiful, entire, and clean, 
w. Nothing useless is, or low. 
o. Our to-days and yesterdays 

Are the blocks with which we build. 
p. Patience is powerful. 
q. Quickly our pleasures glide away, 

The moments that are speeding fast 

We heed not, but the past more highly prize. 
r. Reward is in the doing. 

s. Sorrow and silence are strong, and patient endur- 
ance is godlike. 

/. Think that to-day shall never dawn again. 
u. Use no violence, nor do in haste what cannot be 
undone. 

v. Visions of childhood, stay, O stay! 

Ye were so sweet and wild. 
w. We cannot buy with gold the old associations. 
x. 'Xcelleth all the rest, 

He who followeth love's behest. 
y. Ye are better than all the ballads 

That ever were sung or said; 

For ye are living poems, 

And all the rest are dead. 
z. Zeal is stronger than fear or love. 



George l^astjmgtou (tvmtets. 59 

George Washington Exercises. 

©eorae masbimton, 

!£ Born Feb. 22, 1733. IK 

g Died Dec. 14, 1799. |o 



[At the exercises six or eight boys or girls at a time will come upon 
the platform and arrange themselves in a semi-circle, when one will 
step forward and recite, then step back into line; another will then 
step forward and so on. If possible, have a large portrait of Wash- 
ington to hang over the platform. Underneath it place a placard 
bearing the dates of his birth and death. Both of these may be orna- 
mented with flags and evergreens. 

Some of the following standard selections may be read and de- 
claimed. They will be found in our best school Readers and 
Speakers: 

"The Flag of Washington." 

"Ode to Washington's Birthday," by Holmes. 

"Washington's Birthday," by Cutter. 

"Warren's Address," by Pierpont. 

Extract from Grimke, beginning, "We cannot love our country 
with too deep a reverence." 

"Character of Washington," by Jared Sparks. 

"Importance of the Union," by Webster. 

"Washington and Franklin." 

"The Birthday of Washington," by Rufus Choate. 

Selection, beginning: "I love my country's pine-clad hills." 

"I'm With You Once Again," by George P. Morris. 

"The Blue and The Gray," by Finch. 

"Independence Bell." 

"Paul Revere's Ride." 

"Our Native Land," by Walter Scott. 

The following songs are all appropriate, and may be dispersed 
through the program : 

"The Star Spangled Banner." 

"Hail Columbia." 

"Red, White and Blue." 

"National Hymn." 

"America." 

"Flag of the Free." 



60 Special Hftndstst. 

"My Native Land." 

" Battle Cry." 

"Rally Round the Flag.' , 

(Suggested Program.) 

ist. Introduction. 

2nd. Song. 

3rd. Composition on Washington. 

4th. Recitations. (Recited from platform.) 

5th. Concert Recitation by School. 

6th. Declamation. 

7th. Select Reading. 

8th. Instrumental Music, or Song by a Pupil. 

9th. Recitation. 
10th. Song by School, 
nth. Declamation.] 

Selections for Recitations. 

my country. 

Land of the forest and the rock, 
Of dark-blue lake and mighty river, 
Of mountains reared aloft to mock 
The storm's career, the lightning's shock; 
My own green land forever! 
O never may a son of thine, 
Where'er his wandering steps incline, 
Forget the skies which bent above 
His childhood like a dream of love. 

— Whittier. 

Freedom! sweet Freedom! our voices resound, 
Queen by God's blessing, unsceptered, uncrowned! 
Freedom, sweet Freedom, our pulses repeat, 
Warm with her life-blood, as long as they beat. 
Fold the broad banner stripes over her breast, — 
Crown her with star-jewels, Queen of the West! 
Earth for her heritage, God for her friend, 
She shall reign over us, world without end! 

— Holmes. 

Few, few were they whose swords of old, 
Won the fair land in which we dwell ; 
But we are many, we who hold 
The grim resolve to guard it well. 



George ^asfymgtou €mti$t&. 61 

Strike for that broad and goodly land, 
Blow after blow till men shall see 
That Might and Right move hand in hand, 
And glorious must their triumph be. 

— Bryant. 

THE CONCORD FIGHT. 

By the rude bridge that arched the flood, 
Their flag to April's breeze unfurled, 

Here once the embattled foeman stood 
And fired the shot heard round the world. 

The foe has long in silence slept : 

Alike the conqueror silent sleeps; 
And time the ruined bridge has swept 

Down the dark stream which seaward creeps. 

On this green bank, by this soft stream, 

We set to-day a votive stone, 
That memory may their deed redeem, 

When like our sires our sons are gone. 

Spirit that made those heroes dare 
To die, and leave their children free, 

Bid time and Nature gently spare 
The shaft we raise to them and Thee. 

— Emerson. 

SELECTIONS FOR YOUNGER CHILDREN. 

First Pupil — 

Tell me, who can, about our flag, 

With its red and white and blue; 
How it came to have so many stars 

And pretty stripes so few. 

Second Pupil — 

The thirteen stripes are for thirteen States, 

That first into Union came; 
For each new State we have added a star, 

But have kept the stripes the same. 



62 Special €mti&t8. 

Third Pupil— 

The number has now reached forty-four, 

So here is an example for you; 
Take the "old thirteen" from forty-four, 
And how many States are new ? 

Fourth Pupil — 

Thirteen from forty-four; let's see, 

Well, three from four leaves one, 
And one from four leaves three, 

There will be remainder, thirty-one. 

Fifth Pupil— 

And these all reach from east to west, 

On both the ocean'shores; 
And over all this proud flag waves, 
And the "Bird of Freedom" soars. 
[Song— "Red, white and Blue."] 

The American Flag. 

(For Seven Little Children.) 

[A pupil holding the Star-Spangled Banner in his hand, recites a 
stanza and the others join in the chorus.] 

Pupil — 

This is our flag, and may it wave 

Wide o'er land and sea! 
Though others love a different flag, 

This is the flag for me. 

The Class— 

And that's the flag for all our land, 

We will revere no other, 
And he who loves the symbol fair, 
Shall be to us a brother. 
Pupil— 

America's the land we love, 

Our broad, fair land so free, 
And schoolmates, wheresoe'er I go, 
This is the flag for me. 
The Class— 



George Wn&tyn%ton (fcxtxtiets. 63 

Pupil— 

These glorious stars and radiant stripes, 

With youthful joy I see; 
May no rude hand its beauty mar, 

This is the flag for me. 

The Class— 

MAXIMS OF WASHINGTON. 

" Without virtue and without integrity, the finest 
talents and the most brilliant accomplishments can 
never gain the respect and conciliate the esteem of the 
truly valuable part of mankind." 

" Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark 
of celestial fire called conscience.' ' 

" A good character is the first essential in a man. It 
is, therefore, highly important to endeavor not only to 
be learned, but virtuous." 

" Speak not ill of the absent, it is unjust." 

"Ingratitude, I hope, will never constitute a part of 
my character, nor find a place in my bosom." 

"I never wish to promise more than I have a moral 
certainty of performing." 

"I shall never attempt to palliate my own foibles by 
exposing the error of another." 

"I am resolved that no misrepresentations, false- 
hoods, or calumny shall make me swerve from what I 
conceive to be the strict line of duty." 

"To persevere is one's duty, and to be silent is the 
best answer to calumny." 

"Commerce and industry are the best mines of a 
nation." 

"Associate with men of good quality if you esteem 
your own reputation, for it is better to be alone than in 
bad company." 

"Be courteous to all, but intimate with few; and let 
those be well tried before you give them your confi- 
dence." 



64 Special dfrmtee** 

" Every action in company ought to be with some 
sign of respect to those present." 

" It is a maxim with me not to ask what, under simi- 
lar circumstances, I would not grant." 

"Let your heart feel for the afflictions and distresses 
of every one." 

"The consideration that human happiness and moral 
duty are inseparably connected, will always continue 
to prompt me to promote the progress of the former by 
inculcating the practice of the latter." 

FROM WASHINGTON'S WRITINGS. 

i. A different opinion on political points is not to be 
imputed to freemen as a fault. It is to be presumed 
that they are all actuated by an equally laudable and 
sacred regard for the liberties of their country. 

2. Promote as an object of primary importance, in- 
stitutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In 
proportion as the structure of a government gives force 
to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion 
should be enlightened. 

3. This Government, the offspring of our own choice, 
uninfluenced and unawed, adopted upon full investiga- 
tion and mature deliberation, completely free in its 
principles, in the distribution of its powers, uniting 
security with energy, and containing within itself a 
provision for its own amendment, has a just claim to 
your confidence and your support. Respect for author- 
ity, compliance with its laws, acquiescence in its meas- 
ures, are duties enjoined by the fundamental maxims 
of true liberty. 

4. It is of infinite moment that you should properly 
estimate the immense value of your National Union to 
your collective and individual happiness; that you 
should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable at- 
tachment to it, accustoming yourself to think and speak 



George ^astjington (kYtttietg. 65 

of it as the palladium of your political safety and pros- 
perity. 

5. Born in a land of liberty; having early learned 
its value; having engaged in the perilous" conflict to 
defend it ; having, in a word, devoted the best years of 
my life to secure its permanent establishment in my 
own country; my anxious recollections, my sympa- 
thetic feelings, and my best w T ishes are irresistibly at- 
tracted whensoever in any country I see an oppressed 
nation unfurl the banner of freedom. 

6. Republicanism is not the phantom of a deluded 
imagination. On the contrary, laws under no other 
form of government, are better supported, liberty and 
property better secured, or happiness more effectually 
dispensed to mankind. 

FROM VARIOUS AUTHORS. 

i. It matters very little what immediate spot may 
have been the birthplace of such a man as Washington. 
No people can claim, no country can appropriate him. 
The boon of Providence to the human race, his fame is 
eternity and his dwelling place, creation. — Charles 
Phillips. 

2. Washington did the two greatest things which, in 
politics, man can have the privilege of attempting. He 
maintained, by peace, that independence of his country 
which he had acquired by war. He founded a free gov- 
ernment, in the name of the principles of order, and by 
re-establishing their sway. — Guizot. 

How sleep the brave who sink to rest 

By all their country's wishes blest! 

When Spring, with dewy fingers cold, 

Returns to deck their hallowed mould, 

She there shall dress a sweeter sod 

Than Fancy's feet have ever trod. — Collins. 



66 Special €mttet*. 

DECLAMATIONS. 

Genius of Washington: — How many times have we 
been told that Washington was not a genius, but a 
person of excellent common sense, of admirable judg- 
ment, of rare virtues. Genius we must suppose is the 
peculiar and shining attribute of some orator whose 
tongue can spout patriotic speeches, or some versifier 
whose muse can "Hail Columbia," but not of the man 
who supported States on his arm, and carried America 
in his brain. The madcap Charles Townsend, the 
motion of whose pyrotechnic mind is like the whiz of a 
hundred rockets, is a man of genius; but George Wash- 
ington, raised up above the level of even eminent states- 
man, and with a nature moving with the still and 
orderly celerity of a planet round its sun, he dwindles 
in comparison into a kind of angelic dunce. By what 
definition do you award the name to the author of an 
epic, and deny it to the creator of a country? By 
what principle is it to be lavished upon him who sculp- 
tures in perishing marble the image of possible ex- 
cellence, and withheld from him who built up in him- 
self a transcendent character, indestructible as the ob- 
ligations of duty and beautiful as her rewards? He 
belongs to that rare class of men who are broad 
enough to include all the facts of a people's practical 
life, and deep enough to discern the spiritual laws 
which animate and govern those facts. — E. P. Whipple. 

National Monument to Washington: — Just honor to 
Washington can only be rendered by observing his 
precepts and imitating his example. He has built his 
own monument. We and those who came after us, in 
successive generations, are its appointed, its privileged 
guardians. The widespread republic is the future 
monument to Washington. Maintain its independence. 
Uphold its constitution. Preserve its union. Defend 
its liberty. Let it stand before the world in all its 



George ^astjington €Yttti£ti. 67 

original strength and beauty, securing peace, order, 
equality, and freedom, to all within its boundaries, and 
shedding light and hope and joy upon the pathway of 
human liberty throughout the world — and Washington 
needs no other monument. Other structures may fully 
testify our veneration for him; this, this alone can 
adequately illustrate his sendees to mankind. 

Character 0) Washington: — Caesar was merciful, 
Scipio was continent, Hannibal was patient; but it 
was reserved for Washington to blend them all in one, 
and, like the lovely masterpiece of the Grecian artist, to 
exhibit in one glow of associated beauty, the pride of 
every model and the perfection of every master. A 
conqueror, he was untainted with the crime of blood; 
a revolutionist, he was free from any stain of treason; 
for aggression commenced the contest, and his country 
called him to the command. Liberty unsheathed his 
sword, necessity stained, victory returned it. 

If he had paused here, history might have doubted 
what station to assign him; whether at the head of her 
citizens, or her soldiers, her heroes, or her patriots. 
But the last glorious act crowns his career and banishes 
all hesitation. Who, like Washington, after having 
emancipated a hemisphere, resigned its crown and pre- 
ferred the retirement of domestic life to the adoration 
of a land he might be almost said to have created? 
Happy, proud America! 

The lightnings of heaven yielded to your philosophy! 
The temptations of earth could not seduce your patri- 
otism! — Charles Phillips. 



68 Special €xttttet&. 

Holmes Exercises. 

| ©liver TOenDell Dolmes, | 

^ Born Aug. 29, 1809. §gg 

SK IK 

I Died ? I 



[A frame is made as above shown and suspended back of the stage. 
The pupils may assemble on the stage or several may come on it at one 
time and recite their parts. A good portrait of the poet should be 
shown.] 

1st Pupil. Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes was born 
at Cambridge, Mass., August 29, 1809. When twenty 
years of age he graduated from Harvard college and 
began to study law. His father's profession, however, 
had more attraction for him than the law and he soon 
became a successful physician. He was called to 
teach anatomy and physiology in Dartmouth college, 
and two years afterward in Harvard. 

Dr. Holmes began to write verses for the college 
paper while he was a student in Harvard, and was 
called upon to write many anniversary poems after 
he graduated. He has written a number of novels 
and medical works, and was one of the founders of 
the Atlantic Monthly, in which his famous " Auto- 
crat of the Breakfast Table" papers first appeared. 
These have since been published in book form, and 
so have his many humorous and beautiful poems. 

Dr. Holmes ranks among the most gifted of poets. 
The English people paid him great honors during his 
visit there, and Americans will always be proud of him. 

2nd Pupil. In the Chambered Nautilus are these lines; 
they are considered very beautiful. 



fyolmt$ €xmi8t&. 69 

Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul 

As the swift seasons roll! 

Leave thy low-vaulted past! 
Let each new temple, nobler than the last, 
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast, 

Till thou at length art free, 
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea! 

yri Pupil. In his Autocrat of the Breakfast Table he 
says : I would have a woman as true as death. At the 
first real lie which works from the heart outward, she 
should be tenderly chloroformed into a better world, 
where she can have an angel for a governess, and feed 
on strange fruits which will make her all over again 
even to her bones and marrow. 

4th Pupil. In another place in the Autocrat of the 
Breakfast Table he says : Books are the negative pictures 
of thought, and the more sensitive the mind that re- 
ceives their images, the more nicely the finest lines are 
reproduced. 

5//* Pupil. Of Hope he writes: 

Hope, only Hope, of all that clings 
Around us, never spreads her wings; 
Love, though he breaks his earthly chain, 
Still whispers he will come again; 
But Faith, that soars to seek the sky, 
Shall teach our half-fledged souls to fly, 
And find, beyond the smoke and flame, 
The cloudless azure whence we came. 

6th Pupil. In the Autocrat he says: Our brains are 
seventy-year clocks. The Angel of Life winds them 
up once for all, then closes the case and gives the key 
into the hand of the Angel of Resurrection. 

jth Pupil. In his poem The Boys he says: 
You hear that boy laughing? — You think he's all fun; 
But the angels laugh, too, at the good he has done; 



70 Special (twti&tg. 

The children laugh loud as they troop to his call, 

And the poor man that knows him laughs loudest of all! 

8th Pupil. Here are two of his lines : 
Oh, what a precious book the one would be 
That taught observers what they're not to see. 

gth Pupil. These are from the same poem: 
The outward forms the inner man reveal, 
We guess the pulp before we cut the peel. 

10th Pupil. So are these: 
Virtue may flourish in an old cravat, 
But man and nature scorn a shocking hat. 
But, oh, my friend! my favorite fellow man! 
If nature made you on her modern plan, 
Sooner than wander with your windpipe bare, — 
The fruit of Eden ripening in the air, — 
With that lean head-stalk, that protruding chin, 
Wear standing collars were they made of tin. 

nth Pupil. Speaking of daily trials he says: 

Storms, thunders, waves! 
Howl, crash, and bellow till ye get your fill; 
Ye sometimes rest; men never can be still 

But in their graves. 

12th Pupil. In Tailor } s Soliloquy he says: 

Ah me! how lovely is the golden braid 

That binds the skirt of night's descending robe! 

The thin leaves, quivering on their silken threads, 

Do make a music like a rustling satin, 

As the light breezes smooth their downy nap. 

. . . i ,. i . ■• . •# -. 

The vulgar know not all the hidden pockets, 
Where Nature stows away her loveliness, 

13th Pupil. Of a portrait he writes: 
I love sweet features; I will own 

That I should like myself 
To see my portrait on a wall 

Or bust upon a shelf; 



tyolmtg €wti£t<$. 71 

But Nature sometimes makes one up 

Of such sad odds and ends, 
It really might be quite as well 

Hushed up among one's friends. 

14th Pupil. Of the Comet: 

The Comet ! He is on his way, 

And singing as he flies; 
The whizzing planets shrink before 

The specter of the skies; 
Ah! well may regal orbs burn blue, 

And satellites turn pale, 
Ten million cubic miles of head, 

Ten billion leagues of tail! 

i$th Pupil. In the Lexington poem: 
Green be the graves where her martyrs are lying! 

Shroudless and tombless they sunk to their rest, — 
While o'er their ashes the starry gold flying 

Wraps the proud eagle they roused from his nest. 

16th Pupil. Of the Puritans he says: 
God bless the ancient Puritans! 

Their lot was hard enough; 
But honest hearts make iron arms 

And tender maids are tough; 
So love and faith have formed and fed 

Our true-born Yankee stuff, 
And keep the kernel in the shell 

The British found so rough. 

ijth Pupil. Of the country he says: 
Poor drudge of the city! how happy he feels 
With the burs on his legs, and the grass at his heels! 
No dodger behind, his bandannas to share ; 
No constable grumbling, "You mustn't walk there." 

iSth Pupil. Also this: 

O what are the prizes we perish to win 

To the first little " shiner" we caught with a pin! 

No soil upon earth is so dear to our eyes 

As the soil we first stirred in terrestrial pies. 



72 Special dfrercteetf* 

igth Pupil. This he writes: 

I was sitting with my microscope, upon my parlor rug, 
With a very heavy quarto, and a very lively bug; 
The true bug had been organized with only two antennae, 
But the humbug in the copperplate would have them twice 
as many. 

20th Pupil. These are admired: 

Strive with the wanderer from the better path, 
Bearing thy message meekly, not in wrath; 
Weep for the frail that err, the weak that fall, 
Have thine own faith, — but hope and pray for all. 

21st Pupil. These lines are from The Last Lea} — 
greatly admired by Mr. Lincoln. 

They say that in his prime, 
Ere the pruning knife of Time 

Cut him down, 
Not a better man was found 
By the Crier on his round 

Through the town. 

22 d Pupil. To an insect he says: 

I love to hear thine earnest voice, 

Wherever thou art hid, 
Thou testy little dogmatist, 

Thou pretty Katydid. 
Thou mindest me of gentle folks, — ■ 

Old gentle folks are they, — 
Thou say'st an undisputed thing 

In such a solemn way. 

23d Pupil. In The Dilemma he says: 

That is dearest, all the while, 

That wears for us the sweetest smile. 

24/^ Pupil. He also says: 

Leave what you've done for what you have to do: 
Don't be " consistent/ ' but be simply true. 

— A Rhymed Lesson, 



t?olnu* GxtxtiSt*. 73 

25th Pupil. Also this: 

Run if you like, but try to keep your breath ; 
Work like a man, but don't be worked to death; 
And with new notions, — let me change the rule, — 
Don't strike the iron till it's slightly cool. 

26th Pupil. Also this: 

As o'er the glacier's frozen sheet 

Breathes soft the Alpine rose, 
So, through life's desert springing sweet, 

The flower of friendship grows. 

— A Song of Other Days. 

2*]th Pupil. Of pluck he says: 

Be firm! one constant element in luck 
Is genuine, solid, old Teutonic pluck. 

— A Rhymed Lesson. 

28th Pupil. He says: 

How the wild swayings of our planets show 
That worlds unseen surround the world we know. 

2gth Pupil. He writes: 

Living, thou dost not live, 
If mercy's spring run dry; 
What heaven has lent thee wilt thou freely give, 
Dying, thou shalt not die 1 

30th Pupil. And this: 

One kindly deed may turn 
The fountain of thy soul 
To love's sweet day-star, that shall o'er thee burn 
Long as its currents roll! 

315/ Pupil. And this: 

The pleasures thou hast planned, — 
Where shall their memory be 
When the white angel, with the freezing hand, 
Shall sit and watch by thee ? 



74 Rectal €xtttint8. 

32nd Pupil. And this: 

To guard is better than to heal, — 
To shield is nobler than to share. 

33rd Pupil. {This may be quoted or sung by the entire 
number or by the school.) 

What flower is this that greets the morn, 
Its hues from heaven so freshly born ? 
With burning star and flaming band 
It kindles all the sunset land: 
Oh, tell us what its name may be, — 
Is this the Flower of Liberty ? 

It is the banner of the free, 

The starry Flower of Liberty. 



Bird Day. 

Arranged by E. L. Benedict. 

[A day in April or May is selected for Bird Day and duly prepared 
for. Stuffed birds should be borrowed and placed in conspicuous 
positions. Birds in cages may be brought in; feathers of various 
kinds should be artistically arranged. Some may have headdresses 
of feathers.] 

Teacher. The poets have much to say about the 
pretty birds. Tell us what Mrs. Sangster says. 

1st Pupil. 

They'll come again to the apple tree, 

Robin and all the rest, 
When the orchard branches are fair to see 

In the snows of the blossoms dressed, 
And the prettiest thing in the world will be 

The building of that nest. 

Teacher. Tell us what Longfellow says. 



2nd Pupil. 
You call them thieves and pillagers ; but know 
They are the winged wardens of your farms, 
Who from the cornfields drive the insidious foe, 
And from your harvest keep a hundred harms. 

Even the blackest of them all, the crow T , 
Renders good service as your man-at-arms, 
Crushing the beetle in his coat of mail, 
And crying havoc on the slug and snail. 

Teacher. Tell us what Byron says. 
yri Pupil. 

A light broke in upon my soul, 

It was the carol of a bird; 
It ceased — and then it came again, 
The sweetest song ear ever heard. 

Teacher. Tell us what Miss Mulock says. 
4th Pupil. 

I said to the brown, brown thrush, 

"Hush— hush! 
Through the wood's full strains I hear 
Thy monotone deep and clear, 

Like a sound amid sounds most fine." 

Teacher. Tell us what James G. Clarke says. 

$th Pupil. 
But the whippoorwill wails on the moor, 

And day has deserted the west; 
The moon glimmers down through the river at my door, 

And the robin has flown to her nest. 

Teacher. Tell us what Mrs. Thaxter says. 

6th Pupil. 
Yellow-bird, where did you learn that song ? 

Perched on the trellis where grape vines clamber, 
In and out fluttering all day long, 

With your golden breast bedropping with amber. 



76 Special €vttttet&. 

Teacher. What is the legend about the robin-red- 
breast ? 

jth Pupil. 

Bearing His cross, while Christ passed forth forlorn, 
His God-like forehead by the mock crown torn, 
A little bird took from that crown one thorn, 
To sooth the dear Redeemer's throbbing head. 
That bird did what she could; His blood, 'tis said, 
Down dropping, dyed her tender bosom red. 
Since then, no wanton boy disturbs her nest, 
Weasel nor wild-cat will her young molest; 
All sacred deem the bird of ruddy breast. 

Teacher. What does Mr. Street say about the eagle ? 

8th Pupil. 

An emblem of freedom, stern, haughty, and high, 

Is the grey forest eagle, that king of the sky; 

It scorns the bright scenes, the gay places of earth, 

By the mountain and torrent it springs into birth; 

There, rocked by the wild wind, baptized by the foam, 

It is guarded and cherished, and there is its home. 

Teacher. What does Tennyson say about the owl ? 

gth Pupil. 
When the cats run home and the light is come, 
And dew is cold upon the ground, 
And the far-off stream is dumb, 
And the whirring sail goes round, 
And the whirring sail goes round, 
Alone and warming his five wits, 
The white owl in the belfry sits. 

Teacher. What does Shakespeare say about the 
nightingale ? 

10th Pupil. 

The nightingale, if she should sing by day, 
When every goose is cackling, would be thought 
No better a musician than the wren. 



515trD HDap* jy 

Teacher. What does Burke say about the lark? 
nth Pupil. 

Teach me, O lark! with thee to greatly rise, 

T' exalt my soul and lift it to the skies; 

To make each worldly joy as mean appear, 

Unworthy care, when heavenly joys are near, 

Teacher. What does Willis say about the pigeon ? 
1 2 th Pupil. 

'Tis a bird I love with its brooding note, 

And the trembling throb in its mottled throat; 

There's a human look in its swelling breast, 

And the gentle curve of its lowly crest; 

And I often stop with the fear I feel, 

He runs so close to the rapid wheel. 

Teacher. Miss Mulock has something about a canary 
bird. 

13th Pupil. 

Sing away, ay, sing away, 

Merry little bird, 
Always gayest of the gay, 
Though a woodland roundelay 
You ne'er sung or heard; 
Though your life from youth to age 
Passes in a narrow cage. 

Teacher. Our own Bryant has a pretty poem about 
the bobolink. Repeat a verse. 
1 4/ h Pupil. 

Modest and shy as a nun is she, 
One weak chirp is her only note; 
Braggart and prince of braggarts is he, 
Pouring boasts from his little throat. 

T. may read us a story about a parrot. 

Ungrateful Polly. — A parrot belonging to King 
Henry VIII. one day fell out of the palace at West- 
minster into the Thames, and, remembering a cry that 



78 Special €rttti8t8. 

she had sometimes heard, called out, "A boat, a boat 
for twenty pounds." A boatman, hearing her cry, 
came to her rescue and took her to the king, claiming the 
reward Polly had offered. The king said he would 
give whatever sum Polly should now say. But when 
she was asked, she very ungratefully cried, " Give the 
knave a groat." 

T. may read a story about a thoughtful duck. 



Thoughtful Mr. Yellowbill. — Tommy has two 
pet ducks. They are very affectionate, and they 
sometimes play ball, Tommy throwing the ball, which 
Mr. Yellowbill runs or flies aiter, seizes and brings back 
to Tommy. One day Tommy was swinging on the 
gate when he felt a pull at his trousers. Looking 
around, he discovered Mr. Yellowbill, who he supposed 
wanted a game of ball. Tommy descended and began 
caressing his friend, but the duck kept pulling at him in 
such an unusually persistent way that Tommy decided 
to follow where he seemed to lead, and lo! at the corner 
of an outbuilding was poor Mrs. Yellowbill, so lame 
that she was quite unable to waddle. Her husband 
seemed greatly concerned, and yet showed his apprecia- 
tion of help by bowing and bowing to those who now 
came to Mrs. YellowbilPs assistance. What caused 
the hurt could not be ascertained, but she soon recov- 
ered and her husband became as lively as ever. 

T. may read a story about a canary. 

A Canary's Last Song. — One day a canary which I 
dearly prized, flew upon a book-case where some 
heavy volumes had been piled rather carelessly. While 
hopping about he accidentally overturned one, and the 
whole pile fell over on him. I heard the chirp of alarm, 
and hurried to the rescue to find that both of Goldy's 
legs were broken. Tenderly I lifted him and splintered 
the fractures the best I could, and for three days I 



ilBrotomng flfrrotee** 79 

nursed him with but little hope. On the fifth day the 
bird, lying in cotton, was placed on my table — his old 
favorite spot. Presently there was a slight rustling of 
the wings; he seemed eager to get upon his feet, but, too 
wise to attempt it, he began warbling the saddest and 
most touching song he had ever sung. In a few minutes 
he was dead. 

[To close, the entire school may sing a song about birds. These 
are found in " Favorite Songs," "Faithful Little Bird," "Birdie 
Sweet," "Birds are in the Woodland," "The Snow Bird," "The 
Little Bird."] 



Browning Exercises. 

;Eit3abetb JSarret JBrowning, 8 

Oft* 

Born March 6, 1806. ^ 

Died June 29, 1861. jjj| 



[For suitably impressing the name of this gifted poetess in the 
memories of children the means suggested in the introduction to 
Bryant Day may be employed. The pupils may all come together 
on the stage or in sections. The teacher will make selections from 
her writings.] 

\st Pupil. Elizabeth Barrett Browning was born at 
Hope End, near Ledbury, England, in 1809. "Her 
figure was slight and delicate, with a shower of dark 
curls falling on either side of a most expressive face; 
large, tender eyes; and a smile like a sunbeam." In 
disposition she was shy, timid, and modest. 

2nd Pupil. She received a very thorough education 
in philosophy, science, and the classics, giving especial 
attention to the Greek language and literature. It 
is said that she read in almost every language, and 



80 Special €xmi&t8. 

that in tiie notes to some of her works were allusions to 
books which no young man of Oxford of her day had 
ever looked into. " Essay on Mind" was published 
in her seventeenth year, and a few years later a trans- 
lation of the " Prometheus" of iEschylus. 

yd Pupil. She spent nearly eleven years in almost 
complete seclusion, suffering from ill health brought 
on by a rupture of a blood vessel in the lungs, and the 
tragic death, by drowning, of an elder brother, who had 
accompanied her to Torquay. 

4th Pupil. During this time she was not idle, but de- 
voted her time to hard study and writing. In 1838 she 
published "The Seraphim, and Other Poems," and 
later, "The Romaunt of the Page," "The Drama of 
Exile," and "Lady Geraldine's Courtship." 

$th Pupil. An allusion in this latter to Mr. Robert 
Browning, led to an acquaintance with the celebrated 
poet. They were married in 1846. After her mar- 
riage the greater part of her life was spent in Italy, 
in whose welfare both Mr. and Mrs. Browning were 
intensely interested. 

6th Pupil. Here were written the two celebrated 
poems, "Casa Guidi Windows," whose theme was 
the struggle made for freedom by the Tuscans in 1849, 
and "Aurora Leigh;" also many others. She had 
died at Casa Guidi, June 29, 1861. 

fth Pupil. Mrs. Browning is generally acknowledged 
as England's greatest poetess. Her poems are charac- 
terized by their depth of feeling, true pathos, and 
noble sentiments. 

WISDOM UNAPPLIED. 

[A recitation by ten pupils; the last five should speak as if address 
ing the first five.] 

1. If I were thou, O butterfly, 

And poised my purple wing to spy 
The sweetest flowers that live and die, 



HBrofcming €mtim. 81 

I would not waste my strength on those 
As thou, — for summer has a close, 
And pansies bloom not in the snows. 

2. If I were thou, O working bee, 
And all that honey-gold I see, 
Could delve from roses easily, 

I would not hive it at man's door, 
As thou, — that heirdom of my store 
Should make him rich, and leave me poor. 

3. If I were thou, O eagle proud, 

And screamed the thunder back aloud, 
And faced the lightning from the cloud, 

I would not build my eyrie throne, 
As thou, — upon a crumbling stone, 
Which the next storm may trample down. 

4. If I were thou, O gallant steed, 
With pawing hoof and dancing head, 
And eye outrunning thine own speed, 

I would not meeken to the rein, 

As thou, — nor smooth my nostril plain 

From the glad desert's snort and strain. 

5. If I were thou, red-breasted bird, 
With song at shut-up window heard 
Like love's sweet eyes too long deferred, 

I would not overstay delight, 
• As thou, — but take a swallow-flight, 
Till the new spring returned to sight. 

6. If I were thou who sing'st this song, 
Most wise for others, and most strong 
In seeing right while doing wrong, 



8a) Special €mtim. 

I would not waste my cares and choose, 
As thou, — to seek what thou must lose, 
Such gains as perish in the use. 

7. I would not work where none can win, 
As thou,— half way, 'twixt grief and sin, 
And look above and judge within. 

8. I would not let my pulse beat high, 
As thou, — towards fame's regality, 
Nor yet in love's great jeopardy. 

9. I would not champ the hard, cold bit, 
As thou, — of what the world thinks fit, 
But take God's freedom, using it. 

iOo I would not play earth's winter out, 
As thou, — but gird my soul about, 
And live for life past death and doubt. 

Then sing, O singer! but allow, 
Beast, fly, and bird, called foolish now, 
Are wise (for all thy scorn) as thou. 

Selected Quotations. 

(for seven pupils.) 

Of all the thoughts of God that are 
Borne inward into souls afar, 
Along the Psalmist's music deep, 
Now tell me if there any is, 
For gift or grace, surpassing this, — 
"He giveth His beloved sleep !" 

2. Speak low to me, my Saviour, low and sweet, 
From out the hallelujahs, sweet and low, 
Lest I should fear and fall, and miss Thee so, 
Who art not missed by any that entreat. 

3. God did anoint thee with his odorous oil, 
To wrestle, not to reign. 



EDebate about £>trtfcesu 83 

4. The least flower, with a brimming cup, may stand, 
And share its dewdrops with another near. 

5. God, set our feet low and our forehead high, 
And show us how a man w T as made to walk. 

6. The best men, doing their best, 

Know, peradventure, least of what they do; 
Men usefullest i' the world are simply used. 

7. The nail that holds the w T ood must pierce it first, 
And he alone who wields the hammer sees 

The work advanced by the easiest blow. 



Debate About Strikes. 

[Twelve or more pupils will take the stage, six on one side and 
six on the other.] 

1st Pupil. One of the striking events of the present 
times is the strike, and we have met to discuss it. We 
may not throw any light on the situation but it is well 
to have the views of both sides. If I am wrong then 
you can see it and possibly make me see it, too. I 
think strikes are all right. Isn't this a free country? 
Didn't our fathers bleed and die to give us liberty? 
What is the use of liberty if we have to work for smaller 
wages than w T e want? I say we have a right to strike. 

2nd Pupil. And I say strikes are wrong. It is true 
that I have a right to ask what wages I please, but I 
have no right to say what wages you shall work for. 
If I had, where would be your rights? Neither have 
I a right to destroy a man's property because he will 
not pay me as much as I ask. If I expect to have my 
rights I must not trample on the rights of others. I 
have a right to work for w T hat wages I please. I do 
not object to high wages; no, I want just as much as 



84 Special Cfrerctee** 

any one. What I object to is to have any one forbid 
my working for a dollar a day because he wants a 
dollar and a quarter. The point is here — shall a man 
forbid my working when and where for what I please ? 
If this is allowed where is our boasted liberty? No, 
gentlemen, let us get as high wages as we can, but allow 
other men perfect freedom. This is especially the land 
of liberty; let us bear that in mind. 

yd Pupil. It is all very well to talk about letting other 
people work for what they please, but when you have 
to earn bread for three or four besides yourself, and 
two dollars a day will barely buy enough for all, and 
some other fellow who has no one to look after comes 
along and offers to work for a dollar and a-half, you 
feel as if he was interfering with your rights. I believe 
in liberty, too, but not liberty that is an injury to me. 
You see one man must give up his liberty if it isn't for 
the good of a great number. For example, suppose 
I am a carpenter, and that I can get $2 per day; and 
a man comes along and says he will work for $1.50; 
should I allow it? I don't think I should; and I 
think all should stop and the employer to pay 

full wages. 

4th Pupil. Now I will admit that if I was in your 
place I should feel bad. But let us see how it would 
work. Here is A keeping a store and I go to him for 
a barrel of flour and he tells me it is $5. I tell him I 
can get it of B for $4.50 and start off for B's store. A 
follows with a club and prevents me from going in, 
and raps B over the head — that is, he strikes; he says 
he cannot make a sufficient profit by selling at $4.50 
and he will not allow it to be done. Suppose one 
railroad would carry me for a dollar, should the other 
come and put obstructions on the track because they 
want me to pay $1.50? 

$th Pupil. It is not wholly a question of liberty, it 
is a question of right. I have a right to enough to 



SOebate #bout £>trike& 85 

enable me to live; and those who try to prevent this 
are wrong. It must be remembered that employers 
want to get work done as cheaply as possible. If 
we don't stand together the price of labor will go down; 
so that it is necessary at times to strike. 

6th Pupil. We are losing sight of principles. The 
great question before us is as to a man's right to work 
for what he chooses. Now that will inconvenience 
some one, it is true. Take corn, or wheat or potatoes ; 
the farmer has excellent crops, and he brings these to 
market and tells us the wheat costs him $1 per bushel 
to raise. Do we pay that? No, not if we can get it 
for 75 cents. He is not going to get what he wants 
for his labor. How would we like it if all the farmers 
about here would join and refuse to sell unless they got 
$2? And suppose they should stop people from 
elsewhere from coming in, who were willing to sell for 
$1.00? 

fth Pupil. No, I'll admit we would not like that. But 
the case of labor is different. 

8th Pupil. All products are founded on labor; the 
farmer is the hardest worked of all. If it would not be 
right for him to step in when you were getting a basket 
of peaches for 50 cents and drive you off and beat the 
seller for offering them — saying he could not afford 
to sell for less than 75 cents, and the other must not — 
neither is it right to apply the same treatment to other 
laborers. 

gth Pupil. The employer wants to get his work done 
the cheapest and so makes slaves of his workmen; 
they must strike to keep from starving. 

10th Pupil. That hardly seems to be true. I think 
that the great majority of the laborers try to do as 
little as possible. Strikes tend to make the employer 
think so. There never was a time when good work- 
men could do so well. Neither should be suspicious. 
The employer wants his workmen to do well. 



86 Special €xmim. 

nth Pupil. Don't you believe it ! Every man who has 
work to be done is going to give it to the fellow that 
will work the cheapest. He doesn't trouble himself 
to see who does it the best. His workmen are nothing 
but machines in his estimation. 

1 2th Pupil. There is where you are wrong. Every 
employer has need of men who are faithful and who 
have brains. It is to his interest to keep such men 
about him, and he would be glad to do it, but if he 
raises the wages of the one man who deserves it, all 
the others, who don't, make a great cry to have theirs 
raised. So a workman who has brains and is faithful 
is kept down by the host of others who are stupid and 
lazy. 

13th Pupil. Well, but what can be done? There 
isn't work for all the people who want it, and if the 
employers were allowed to take those who would work 
the cheapest all would starve. 

i^th Pupil. There is no use of anybody's starving. 
The trouble is that everybody rushes into the cities that 
are already overcrowded. There isn't enough to eat 
because there isn't enough people left on the farms out- 
side to raise the food for them. If those who are 
starving in the streets would go to the country and 
help plant corn and potatoes and cabbages they would 
have more than they needed to eat, and some to send 
to their friends in the city. 

i$th Pupil. Well, I know farmers who tell a different 
story. They say that farming is poor business; that 
they get so little for their crops that it doesn't pay them 
for the hard work they put upon them. They are 
anxious to sell their farms, but they cannot get any one 
to buy. 

1 6th Pupil. Yes, I know such farmers; but they are 
poor ones. In the first place, they don't understand 
their business; they don't know how to use their 
ground so as to get the most out of it; and then they 



SDebate #bout £>trifee$u 87 

are in too great a hurry to get rich. But one thing 
they always have — plenty to eat, a place to sleep, 
clothes enough to keep them comfortable, plenty of 
pure air and healthful exercise which gives them strong 
muscles and rosy cheeks. Oh! the life of a farmer 
for me. I'd manage to get some books and papers; 
I'd study to make my farm pay ; I wouldn't be bothered 
about wages and strikes; I'd be my own master; I'd 
be getting all my rights without interfering with any 
one else. 

1 7//* Pupil. Oh, yes, that sounds very well, but you 
have to get your farm first. If you had one already 
paid for, why it would be easy enough; but one who 
hasn't a cent to start with has to work a long time for 
wages, and never spend a cent, except for coarse 
shirts and overalls, if he ever expects to get enough to 
buy a farm. 

i&th Pupil. Wait a minute. I know something 
about farming. A man who can earn fair wages on a 
farm can save enough in about three or four years to 
buy him a team and farming utensils, and then he can 
take land on shares. Then he can plan his work as 
he pleases and study to make the biggest profit. He 
need not live miserly to do this, but he must not waste 
his money nor his strength in tobacco and liquor and 
such things. But if anybody has not the patience to 
begin low down and work up slowly, let him take the 
advice of Horace Greeley, and "Go west." Uncle 
Sam will give him land there for the asking, and then 
the question of labor and capital need never trouble 
him any more. 



88 Imperial €mti$t£. 



The Flower Queen- 

[This can be made quite scenic by having flowers made of paper 
as near like those named as possible. Here we may say that a col- 
lection of flowers should be made and kept on hand; they can be 
used again and again. First a chair is placed on the stage and a 
young girl — 10 or 12 years old — enters with a suitable dress; she 
is accompanied by two waiting-maids (smaller). She stands and 
speaks]: 

Queen. To-day my subjects are to bring me presents 
of flowers. Oh! how I love the flowers. 

15/ Maid. I think I hear them coming. 

2nd Maid. Yes, your majesty, there comes Buttercups. 
(Queen sits.) 

[Each child enters carrying a bunch of flowers; she pauses at the 
side of the queen, faces the audience, and repeats her quotation; 
then curtsys to the queen, puts the flowers in her lap, passes to 
the other side and stands beside the waiting-maid; as the others 
come in they follow this plan; they arrange themselves scen- 
ically behind the queen's chair, the tallest in the rear. The queen, 
as each is laid in her lap, bows gracefully and says: "Beautiful," 
"How lovely," etc. The order of the flowers can be suited to the 
ideas of the teacher.] 

Mayflower. 

The shy little mayflower weaves her nest, 

But the south wind sighs o'er the fragrant loam 

And betrays the path to her woodland home. 

— Sarah Helen Whitman., 

Bluebell. 

Oh! roses and lilies are fair to see, 

But the wild bluebell is the flower for me. 

— Louisa A. Meredith. 

Buttercups. 

The buttercups, bright-eyed and bold, 

Hold up their chalices of gold 

To catch the sunshine and the dew. 

— Julia C. R. Dorr. 



W$z ifiotoer &utm. 89 

Clematis. 

Where the woodland streamlets flow, 

Gushing down a rocky bed, 
Where the tasseled alders grow, 

Lightly meeting overhead, 
When the fullest August days 

Give the richness that they know, 
Then the wild clematis comes, 

With her wealth of tangled blooms, 
Reaching up and drooping low. 

— Dora Read Goodale. 

Clover (red). 

Crimson clover I discover 

By the garden gate, 
And the bees about her hover, 
But the robins w T ait. 
Sing, robins, sing, 
Sing a roundelay, 
'Tis the latest flower of spring 
Coming with the May! 

— Dora Read Goodale. 

Clover (white). 

The cricket pipes his song again, 
The cows are waiting in the lane, 
The shadows fall adown the hill, 
And silent is the whippoorwill ; 
But through the summer twilight still 
You smell the milk-white clover. 

— Dora Read Goodale. 

Cowslips. 

The cowslips tall her pensioners be, 
In their gold coats, spots you see; 
These be rubies, fairy favors, 
In their freckles live their savors. 

— Shakespeare. 

Daffodil. 

Daffy-down-dilly came up in the cold, 

Through the brown mould, 



9<d Special 4frercfce& 

Although the March breezes blew keen in her face, 
Although the white snow lay on many a place. 

—Miss Warner. 

Daisy. 

We bring daisies, little starry daisies, 

The angels have planted to remind us of the sky, 

When the stars have vanished they twinkle their mute 

praises, 
Telling, in the dewy grass, of brighter fields on high. 

— Read. 

Dandelion. 

Dainty little dandelions, 

Smiling on the lawn, 
Sleeping through the dewy night, 

Waking with the dawn. 
Pretty little dandelions, 

Sleeping in the glen, 
When another year returns, 

They will come again. 

— " Songs for Little Singers. 79 

Forget-me-not. 

When to the flowers so beautiful 

The Father gave the name, 
Back came a little blue-eyed one, 

(All timidly she came,) 
And standing at her Father's feet, 

And gazing in His face, 
She said in low and trembling tones: 
" Dear God, the name Thou gavest me, 

Alas! I have forgot." 
Kindly the Father looked Him down, 

And said, " Forget-Me-Not." 

Harebell. 

I love the fair lilies and roses so gay, 
They are rich in their pride and their splendor; 
But still more do I love to wander away 



tEfje jfiotoer &wm. 91 

To the meadows so sweet, 
There down at my feet, 
The harebell blooms modest and tender. 

— Dora Read Goodale. 

Honeysuckle. 

Honeysuckle loves to crawl 

Up to the low crag and ruined wall. 

— Scott. 
The honeysuckle round the porch 
Has woven its wavy bowers. 

— Tennyson. 

Ivy. 

Oh, a dainty plant is the ivy green, 

That creepeth o'er ruins old! 
Of right choice food are his meals, I ween, 

In his cell so lone and cold. 
Creeping where no life is seen, 

A rare old plant is the ivy green. 

— Charles Dickens. 

Jessamine. 

Out in the lonely woods the jessamine burns 

Its fragrant lamps, and turns 
Into a royal court with green festoons 
The banks of dark lagoons. 

— Henry Timrod. 

Lichen. 

Little lichen, fondly clinging 
In the wildwood to the tree, 
Covering all unseemly places, 
Hiding all thy tender graces, 
Ever dwelling in the shade, 
Never seeing sunny glade. 

Lily {white). 

The stately lilies stand 

Fair in the silvery light, 
Like saintly vestals, pale in prayer, 



-R. M. E. 



92 Special €xttti&t& 

Their pure breath sanctifies the air, 
As its fragrance fills the night. 

—Julia C. R. Dorr. 

Lily {red or meadow). 

Clustered lilies in the shadows, 

Lapt in golden ease they stand, 
Rarest flower in all the meadows, 

Richest flower in all the land, 
Royal lilies in the sunlight, 

Brave with summer's fair array, 
Drowsy through the evening silence, 

Crown of all the August day. 

— Dora Read Goodale. 



Orchid. 



Pansy. 



In the marsh, pink orchids' faces, 
With their coy and dainty graces, 
Lure us to their hiding places, 
Laugh, O murmuring spring! 

— Sarah F. Davis. 



Of all the bonny buds that blow 

In bright or cloudy weather, 
Of all the flowers that come and go, 

The whole twelve moons together, 
The little purple pansy brings 
The sweetest thoughts of pleasant things. 

— Mary E. Bradley. 



Primrose. 



Rose. 



'Tis the first primrose! see how meek, 

Yet beautiful it looks, 
As just a lesson it may speak 

As that which is in books. 

— W. L. Bowles. 

How fair is the rose! what a beautiful flower, 
The glory of April and May! 



Wfyt ifioton: €iueen* 93 

But the leaves are beginning to fade in an hour, 
And they wither and die in a day. 

— Isaac Watts. 

Strawberry. 

When the fields are wet -with clover, 
And the woods are glad with song, 

When the brooks are running over, 
And the days are bright and long, 

Then from every nook and bower, 

Peeps the dainty strawberry flower. 

— Dora Read Goodale. 

Sunflower. 

O, sunflower, what is the secret thing 

You hide in your inmost heart, 
When you turn to the sun like a slave to a king, 

With all your leaves apart ? 

You hide your secret, day in, day out, 

But you eagerly watch your king, 
And some hot noon you will speak with a shout, 

And tell us that secret thing. 



Tulip. 



Violets. 



'Mid the sharp, short emerald wheat, 

Scarce risen three fingers well, 
The wild tulip at end of its tube 

Blows out its great red bell, 
Like a thin clear bubble of blood, 

For the children to pick and sell. 

— Robert Browning. 



Hath the pearl less whiteness 

Because of its birth ? 
Hath the violet less brightness 

For growing near the earth ? 

— Moore. 



& 



Special (trttti&tz* 



Wind-flower (anemone). 

The starry, fragile wind-flower, 

Poised above in airy grace, 
Virgin white, suffused with blushes, 

Shyly droops her lovely face. 

—Elaine Goodale. 

[The presentation being concluded, there is a horn blown outside. 
The queen rises. Queen. That is the signal that the King's chariot 
is awaiting us. I thank you for these tokens of your love. She 
gives them to the waiting-maids who have baskets, and starts slowly 
towards the door. The subjects now join in a song (to tune "Lightly 
Row 11 ) and jollow two by two.] 

CLOSING SONG. 

Lovely flowers, lovely flowers, 
All about this world of ours; 
Every where, every where, 
They are growing fair. 
Sparkles now the sunny dale, 
Fragrant is the flowery vale, 
Oh! how fair, oh! how fair 
Flowers every where. 

Flowers sought, flowers brought, 
We have charming beauties caught; 
Come and see, come and see, 
Said the flowers to me. 
We have brought them to our queen, 
We have had a pleasing scene, 
Now away, now away, 
No longer can we stay. 



(Brnmon €xttti&t8. 95 

Emerson Exercises. 



I IRalpb Matoo JSmerson, | 

I 1 

^ Born May 25, 1803. ^ 

^ is 

I Died I 



[The suggestions made concerning the exercises for Bryant's 
Day will guide in these exercises. Around the margin fasten sprigs 
of hemlock or other evergreens. Have nails suitably driven and 
rehearse the operation of hanging until it can be done properly. 
Prepare a programme and write it on the blackboard. When the 
time has arrived give a signal for silence. If the teacher has a por- 
trait of Emerson it can be exhibited.] 

i. Hanging of the Tablet. — Two pupils will ad- 
vance and bow to the audience, and then take up the 
tablet and hang it. 

One 0} the pupils will turn to the audience and point- 
ing to the tablet say: — 

" Thou wert the morning star among the living, 

Ere thy light had fled: 
Now, having died, thou art as Hesperus, giving 

New splendor to the dead." 

2nd Pupil. Ralph Waldo Emerson was descended 
from seven generations of clergymen. He was educated 
at Harvard, taught in Chelmsford and Cambridge while 
studying divinity. He was a Unitarian minister from 
1826 to 1833, when he withdrew from the ministry and 
devoted himself to lecturing and literature. He made 
two visits to Europe — 1833 and 1847 — and some of 
his impressions appear in " English Traits." He pub- 



g6 Special <&Yttti8t8* 

lished also several books. In 1834 he took up his resi- 
dence in Concord, where he lived the remainder of 
his life. 

Teacher. Many eminent men have spoken in high 
praise of Emerson. 

yd Pupil. John Burroughs said: "When I think of 
Emerson I think of him as a man, not as an author; it 
was his rare and charming personality that healed us 
and kindled our love. When he died, it was not as a 
sweet singer, like Longfellow, who had gone silent, 
but something precious and paternal had departed out 
of nature; a voice of hope, and courage, and inspira- 
tion to all noble endeavor, had ceased to speak." 

4th Pupil. E. P. Whipple said: " Emerson's voice 
had a strange power which affected me more than 
any other voice I ever heard on the stage or on the 
platform." 

$th Pupil. George William Curtis said: "A youth, 
fascinated by his graciousness of manner, declared 
that Emerson greeted the most ordinary person like 
a king of Spain receiving an embassador from the 
great Mogul. The expectancy of his manner implied 
that every man had some message to deliver and he 
bent himself to hear." 

6th Pupil. Edmund Clarence Stedman said: "In 
certain respects he was our most typical poet, having 
the finest intuition, and a living faith in it. He began 
where many poets end, seeking at once the upper air, 
the region of pure thought and ideality." 

jth Pupil. Matthew Arnold said: " As Wordsworth's 
poetry is, in my judgment, the most important work 
done in verse in our language during this century, so 
Emerson's Essays are the most important work done 
in prose." 

8th Pupil. James Russell Lowell said: "There is no 
man living to whom, as a writer, so many of us feel 
and thankfully acknowledge so great an indebtedness 



€mmon €mti£t&. 97 

for ennobling impulses. We look upon him as one of 
the few men of genius whom our age has produced." 

Teacher. Mr. Emerson had much to say about nature; 
he was a great lover of nature ; give us a quotation. 

gth Pupil. "In this refulgent summer it has been a 
luxury to draw the breath of life. The grass grows, 
the buds burst, the meadow is spotted with fire and gold 
in the tint of flowers. The air is full of birds, and 
sweet with the breath of the pine, the balm of Gilead, 
and the new hay. Night brings no gloom to the heart 
with its welcome shade. Through the transparent 
darkness the stars pour their almost spiritual rays." 

Teacher. He advocates independence of thought. 

10th Pupil. "Be content with a little light, so it be 
your own. Explore and explore. Be neither chided 
nor flattered out of your position of perpetual inquiry. 
Neither dogmatize nor accept another's dogmatism. 
Why should you renounce your right to traverse star- 
lit deserts of truth, for the premature comfort of an 
acre, house, and barn? Truth also has its roof, and 
bed and board." — Literary Ethics. 

Teacher. He speaks much of our country. 

nth Pupil. "Let us live in America, too thankful 
for our want of feudal institutions. Our houses and 
towns are like mosses and lichens, so slight and new, 
but youth is a fault of which we shall daily mend. 
This land, too, is old as the Flood, and wants no 
ornament or privilege which nature could bestow. 
Here stars, here woods, here hills, here animals, here 
men abound, and the vast tendencies concur of a 
new order. If only the men are employed in con- 
spiring with the designs of the Spirit who led us hither, 
and is leading us still, we shall quickly enough advance 
out of all hearing of others' censure, out of all regrets 
of our own, into a new and more excellent social state 
than history has recorded." — The Young American. 

Teacher, He speaks of the value of courtesy. 



98 Special €wttit8. 

1 2th Pupil. "The whole of heraldry and of chiv- 
alry is in courtesy. A man of fine manners shall 
pronounce your name with all the ornaments that 
titles of nobility could ever add." — History. 

Teacher. He writes also of consistency. 

13th Pupil. "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin 
of little minds, adored by little statesmen, and philoso- 
phers, and divines. With consistency, a great soul 
has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern 
himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what 
you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak 
what to-morrow thinks, in hard words again, though 
it contradict everything you said to-day." 

— Self-reliance. 

Teacher. He writes of our being read and known by 
others. 

14th Pupil. "A man cannot speak but he judges 
himself. With his will, or against his will, he draws 
his portrait to the eye of his companion by every word. 
Every opinion reacts on him who utters it." 

— Compensation. 

Teacher. He writes beautifully of friendship. 

15/fe Pupil. "The end of friendship is a commerce 
the most strict and homely that can be joined; more 
strict than any of which we have experience. It is 
for aid and comfort through all the relations and pas- 
sages of life and death. It is fit for serene days, and 
graceful gifts, and country rambles, but also for rough 
roads and hard fare, shipwreck, poverty, and perse- 
cution. ' ' — Friends hip. 

Teacher. He was remarkable in saying much in a 
short sentence. Here are two examples. 

16th Pupil. "Nothing great was ever achieved with- 
out enthusiasm." — Circles. 

iph Pupil. "The hand can never execute anything 
higher than the character can inspire." — Art. 

Teacher. He was a firm believer in character. 



(Bmttion <£rttti$t&. 99 

18th Pupil. "We can drive a stone upward, for a 
moment, into the air, but it is yet true that all stones 
will forever fall; and whatever instances can be 
quoted of unpunished theft, or of a lie which some- 
body credited, justice must prevail, and it is the priv- 
ilege of truth to be believed." — Character. 

Teacher. He wrote of poetry. 

igth Pupil. "The poet made all the words, and, 
therefore, language is the archives of history, and, if 
we must say it, a sort of tomb of the muses. For, 
though the origin of most of our words is forgotten, 
each word was at first a stroke of genius, and obtained 
currency because, for the moment, it symbolized the 
world to the first speaker and the hearer. The etymolo- 
gist finds the deadest word to have been once a 
brilliant picture." — The Poet. 

Teacher. He wrote of health. 

20th Pupil. "The first wealth is health. Sickness is 
poor-spirited, and cannot serve any one; it must hus- 
band its resources to live. But health or fulness 
answers its own ends, and has to spare, runs over, and 
inundates the neighborhoods and creeks of other men's 
necessities. ' ' — Power. 

Teacher. He wrote some very strong poetry. These 
four lines have been much admired. They are posted 
up in the hall of Marlborough College, England. 

2 1 st Pupil. 

" So nigh is grandeur to our dust, 

So near is God to man, 
When Duty whispers low, ( Thou must,' 

The youth replies: 1 1 can.'" 

— Voluntaries. 

Teacher. He speaks of decision. 

22nd Pupil. "Many men are knowing, many are 
apprehensive and tenacious, but they do not rush to 
a decision. But, in our flowing affairs, a decision 



LoFC. 



ioo Special €mti$t$> 

must be made — the best, if you can; but any is better 
than none. There are twenty ways of going to a 
point, and one is shortest; but set out at once on one. 
A man who has that presence of mind which can bring to 
him, on the instant, all he knows, is worth, for action, 
a dozen men who know as much, but can only bring 
it to light slowly." — Power. 

Teacher. He speaks of power. 

23d Pupil. " Power dwells with cheerfulness; hope 
puts us in a working mood, whilst despair is no 
muse, and untunes the active powers. A man should 
make life and nature happier to us, or he had bettei 
never been born. When the political economist 
reckons up the unproductive classes, he should put 
at the head this class, pitiers of themselves, cravers of 
sympathy, bewailing imaginary disaster.' ' 

— Considerations by the Way. 

Teacher. He advises availing of the powers of the 
universe. This quotation has been much admired. 

2/^th Pupil. "Now that is the wisdom of a man, 
in every instance of his labor, to hitch his wagon to a 
star, and see his chore done by the gods themselves. 
That is the way we are strong, by borrowing the 
might of the elements. The forces of steam, gravity, 
galvanism, light, magnets, wind, fire, serve us day 
by day, and cost us nothing. Hitch your wagon to 
a star." — Civilization. 

Teacher. He greatly valued books. 

2$th Pupil. " Consider what you have in the smallest 
chosen library. A company of the wisest and wittiest 
men that could be picked out of all civil countries in a 
thousand years, have set in best order the results of 
their learning and wisdom. The men themselves 
were hid and inaccessible, solitary, impatient of inter- 
ruption, fenced by etiquette; but the thought which 
they did not uncover to their bosom friend is here 



(Emerson (tYttti&ts. 101 

written out in transparent words to us, the strangers 
of another age." — Books. 

26th Pupil. "Be sure, then, to read no mean books. 
Shun the spawn of the press on the gossip of the hour. 
Do not read what you shall learn, without asking, 
in the street and the train. If you should transfer the 
amount of your reading, day by day, from the news- 
paper to the standard authors — but who dare speak 
of such a thing?" — Books. 

27 th Pupil. "What is really best in any book is 
translatable — any real insight or broad human senti- 
ment. I rarely read any Latin, Greek, German, 
Italian, sometimes not a French book in the original, 
which I can procure in a good version. I like to be 
beholden to the great metropolitan English speech, 
the sea which receives tributaries from every region 
under heaven. I should as soon think of swimming 
across Charles river when I wish to go to Boston, as 
of reading all my books in originals when I have them 
rendered for me in my mother- tongue." — Books. 

Teacher. This quotation has been greatly admired. 

28th Pupil. 

" The hand that rounded Peter's dome, 
And groined the aisles of Christian Rome, 
Wrought in a sad sincerity; 
Himself from God he could not free; 
He builded better than he knew — 
The conscious stone to beauty grew." 

— The Problem. 

Teacher. Also this one. 
29th Pupil. 

"The word unto the prophet spoken 
Was writ on tables yet unbroken; 
The word, by seers or sibyls told, 
In groves of oak or fanes of gold, 
Still floats upon the morning wind, 
Still whispers to the willing mind. 



102 Special QBrtttiztz. 

One accent of the Holy Ghost 

The heedless world hath never lost." 

— The Problem. 

Teacher. His poem on the "Battle of Lexington' ■ 
will now be sung. 

(Any long-meter tune will suit the words.) 
By the rude bridge that spans the flood, 
Their flag to April's breeze unfurled, 
Here once the embattled farmers stood, 
And fired the shot heard round the world. 

The foe long since in silence slept; 

Alike the conqueror silent sleeps; 
And time the ruined bridge has swept 

Down the dark stream that seaward creeps. 



Christmas Celebration. 

[A curtain, covered frame, or partition of some sort should be 
stretched at one end of the room, with an opening to represent a 
very large old-fashioned fire-place; on each side of this should 
be hung a large cloth stocking. Back of the opening should be 
another black curtain, to make it look dark like a chimney. If 
possible get a goat, two if possible; otherwise a big dog may answer. 
Use these to draw in Santa Claus through the fire-place in a small 
wagon, filled with the presents, and as gaily decorated as possible. 
Santa Claus will have' to come in at the side, but let the bells be 
jingled from above, and have him drive in with all possible dash, 
bells jingling and whip cracking, so as to give an appearance of 
coming down the chimney. All this is only by way of suggestion. 
Add everything to increase the realistic appearance and effect. Let 
the stockings be large enough to hold something for everybody, if only a 
stick of candy. Let the parts be rehearsed, not in the presence 
of the company, so it will be a surprise to them. The singing may 
be rehearsed separately. If possible have parents as well as pupils 
present.] 

(A number of children come on the stage singing 
brightly, cheerfully, a Christmas hymn; one oj the older 
ones says): 



Christmas Celebration* 103 

Yes, it was nineteen hundred and years ago, 

as all of you know, that Jesus came on earth. He 
was God's first and best Christmas present to the 
world; then Jesus gave his friends Christmas presents 
of happiness, and his enemies, too — he gave the best 
any one can give — his love and his life. That w^as how 
Christmas first came into fashion, and it was such a 
good one — this fashion of giving, giving, giving — that 
it has gone oh ever since; so once a year, on Jesus' 
birthday, we come together and give each other presents, 
just to show that we haven't forgotten that good ex- 
ample. 

Now to-night we are expecting Santa Claus here, 
about this time, and I think he must be on the way 
this minute. Listen! {Sleigh-bells heard faintly in 
the distance,) Yes, he is coming. But I think there 
is time before he gets here for Lucy to tell us about 
that stocking she has in her hand. 

Lucy. 

THE BABY'S STOCKING. 

Hang up the baby's stocking, 

Be sure you don't forget. 
The dear little dimpling darling 

Has never seen Christmas yet. 

But I told him all about it 

And he opened his big blue eyes; 
I am sure he understood it, • 

He looked so funny and wise. 

Ah, what a tiny stocking! 

It doesn't take much to hold 
Such little toes as baby's 

Safe from the frost and cold. 

But then, for the baby's Christmas, 
It will never do at all; 



104 Special €rtttigt&. 

For Santa Claus would not be looking 
For anything half so small. 

I know what will do for baby; 

I've thought of a first-rate plan; 
I've borrowed a stocking of grandma, 

The longest that ever I can. 

And here it shall be hung by mine, 

Right here in the corner — so, 
And I'll write a letter for baby, 

And fasten it on the toe; 

(Suits the action to the words. Bells are again heard, 
a little nearer.) 

God bless the little stockings 

All over the land to-night, 
Hung in the choicest corners, 

In the glow of crimson light! 

The tiny, scarlet stocking, 

With a hole in the heel and toe, 
Worn by wonderful journeys 

The darlings have to go; 

The stockings of all sizes 

And patterns, great and small, 
With many glad surprises — 

I pray God bless them all! 

(Bells heard very near.) 

Older Pupil. Here comes Santa Claus! Let's pre- 
pare for him. 

(Bells jingling and whip cracking in the chimney, 
and Santa Claus rides in; the pupils scatter and partly 
hide.) 

S. C. Whoop la! Whoa! Stand still there! Wish 
all a Merry Christmas! Well, well! Stockings, stock- 
ings, stockings everywhere! This must be a hosiery 



Christmas Celebration* 105 

store. I believe I have made a mistake and got into 
Smith, Jones & Co.'s. (Mention some well-known 
firm that deals in hosiery.) Whoa there! Stand 
still! (Lucy peeps.) Hullo! hullo! I don't let people 
see me. 
Lucy. 

Old Santa Claus, this is a stocking 

Hung up for our baby dear; 
You never have seen our darling; 

He has not been with us a year. 

But he is a beautiful baby! 

And now, before you go, 
Please cram this stocking with presents 

From the top of it down to the toe. 

S. C. Oh, to be sure. Trust me ! I always look out 
for the babies. (Appears to fill the baby's stocking and 
some 0) the others.) But bless me ! Who have we here ? 

Jennie (a little girl with night-gown over her dress 
steps up and takes Santa Claus by the sleeve). 

'Sh — I've got out of bed, just a minute, 

To tell you — I'll whisper it low — 
The stockings I've hung by the fire 

(Points to the particular stockings.) 

Are for me — not mamma, you know, 

For mine are so awfully little, 
Dear Santa Claus, don't you see ? 

And I want, oh! so many playthings, 
They won't hold enough for me. 

So I want you to surely remember, 

And fill these as full as you can; 
'Cause I haven't been very naughty, 

And — you're such a nice, kind man! 



106 Special €md$tg. 

S. C. Of course I will. But how you are all after 
me, to be sure! 'Sh! Whoa, I tell yer! Stand still! 
I've got ever so many other places to go to to-night, 
and my fiery steeds are getting restless, you see. {If 
they donH happen to be restless, it will make the remark 
seem all the more comical.) So I must hurry up and 
be off. {Appears to fill up the stockings — including the 
two big ones — while he is talking. Then jumps into 
the wagon and drives off through the chimney- place.) 
Good-bye till next Christmas! 

All {rushing out). Good-bye, Santa Claus! Mer- 
ry Christmas! Come again! {Bells and cracking o) 
whip heard growing farther and farther away.) 

Older Pupil. Now we will see what Santa Claus has 
left us. {Distributes presents from the stockings; these 
should be labeled and remarks made, for example): 
" Solomon Reed, is he here?" {Several act as mes- 
sengers.) "Well, here is something for you." {Of 
course there can be bags with presents not brought in 
by Santa Claus which can be opened so that all will 
have something — it will be done quickly. With a 
pencil names can be put on the labels of those who acci- 
dentally may have been overlooked. The distributor 
should stand on a box or chair, and act like an auctioneer, 
cracking jokes, if possible. When all have been dis- 
tributed the leader says: "Now one more song and then 
we stop," and then strikes up " America") 



^ree^plantmg €xtvtigt&. 107 



Tree-planting Exercises. 

[The exercises usually begin at the school-house. First, some 
remarks by the teacher on the importance of trees; then follow 
remarks by some of the guests, the superintendent, the clergyman; 
these must be short. Then follow selections from the poets, or 
essays by pupils, interspersed with music. There are many very 
beautiful songs about trees.] 

Teacher. The poets have written much about the 
trees. They greatly love them. What has Southey 
said? 

1 st Pupil. 

THE HOLLY TREE. 

O ! hast thou ever stood to see 
The holly tree ? 

All vain asperities I day by day 

Would wear away, 
'Till the smooth temper of my age should be 
Like the high leaves upon the holly tree. 

And as when all the summer trees are seen 

So bright and green, 
The holly leaves a sober hue display 

Less bright than they; 
But where the bare and wintry woods we see 
What, then, so cheerful as the holly tree ? 
So would I seem amid the young and gay 

More grave than they! 
That in my age as cheerful I might be 
As the green winter of the holly tree 

Teacher. What has Dyer said ? 
2nd Pupil. 

THE TREES. 

Behold the trees unnumbered rise, 
Beautiful in various dyes; 



108 Special €Yttti&t&. 

The gloomy pine, the poplar blue, 

The yellow beech, the sombre yew, 

The slender fir that taper grows, 

The sturdy oak, with broad-spread boughs. 

Teacher. What has Dryden said ? 
yri Pupil. 

The birch, the myrtle, and the bay 

Like friends did all embrace; 
And their large branches did display 

To canopy the place. 

Teacher. What has Hood said ? 
4th Pupil. 

I remember, I remember, 

The fir-trees dark and high; 
I used to think their slender tops 
Were close against the sky. 

Teacher. Has anything been said against the cutting 
down of trees? 

THE PLEA OE THE TREES — A MEDLEY. 

$th Pupil. 

And now in the forest the woodman doth stand, 

His eye marks the victim to fall by his hand, 

And all the trees shiver and tremble for fear. 

Hark! they plead for their lives! Will the woodcutter hear 

Teacher. What is the voice of the oak? 

6th Pupil. 

I am a monarch, the king of the trees, 
Calmly I rise, and spread by slow degrees; 
Three centuries I grow; and three I stay 
Supreme in state; and in three more decay. 

— Dryden. 

Teacher. Of the maple ? 
fth Pupil. 

come this way 
On a hot July day, 



tEtae^planttng €xtxti£t&. 109 

If my worth you would know; 

For wide and deep 

Is the shade I keep, 
Where cooling breezes blow. 

— E. L. B. 

Teacher. Of the hemlock ? 
8th Pupil. 

I shake the snow on the ground below, 

Where the flowers safely sleep; 
And all night long, though winds blow strong, 

A careful watch I keep. 

— E. L. B. 

Teacher. Of the elm ? 
gth Pupil. 

Each morning when thy waking eyes first see, 
Through the wreathed lattice, golden day appear, 
Here sits the robin, on this old elm tree, 
And with such stirring music fills thy ear, 
Thou mightst forget that life had pain or fear, 
And feel again as thou wast wont to do 
When hope was young, and joy and life itself were new. 

— Anna Maria Wells. 

Teacher. Of the hickory ? 
10th Pupil. 

When the autumn comes its round 

Rich, sweet walnuts will be found 

Covering thickly all the ground 

Where my boughs are spread. 

Ask the boys that visit me, 

Full of happiness and glee, 

If they'd mourn the hickory tree 

Were it felled and dead. 



E. L. B. 



Teacher. Of the palm? 
nth Pupil. 

The loveliest 
Amid a thousand strange and lovely shapes 
We stand serene, and with our nut supply 



no Special €mti&t8. 

Beverage and food; we edge the shore and crown 
The far-off highland summits, our straight stems, 
Bare, without leaf or bough, erect and smooth, 
Our tresses crowning like a crested helm 
The plumage of the grove. 

Teacher. Of the beech ? 

12th Pupil. 

Oh, leave this barren spot to me! 
Spare, woodman, spare the beechen tree! 
Thrice twenty summers I have seen 
The sky grow bright, the forest green; 
And many a wintry wind have stood 
In bloomless, fruitless solitude, 
Since childhood in my pleasant bower 
First spent its sweet and sportive hour. 
And on my trunk's surviving frame 
Carved many a long-forgotten name. 

As love's own altar honor me; 

Spare, woodman, spare the beechen tree! 

— Campbell. 

Teacher. Of the willow ? 
13th Pupil. 

Listen! in my breezy moan 

You can hear an undertone; 

Through my leaves come whispering low 

Faint, sweet sounds of long ago. 

Many a mournful tale of woe 
Heart-sick man to me has told; 
Gathering from my golden bough 
Leaves to cool his burning brow. 

Many a swan-like song to me 
Hath been chanted mournfully; 
Many a lute its last lament 
Down my moonlight stream hath sent. 

— Adapted from Mrs, Hemans. 



^re^plantmg €xttttet<$. 1 1 1 

Teacher. What does Longfellow say about the forest ? 
14th Pupil. 

THE PRIMEVAL FOREST. 

This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and 
the hemlocks, 

Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in 
the twilight, 

Stand like Druids of old, and with voices sad and pro- 
phetic, 

Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their 
bosoms. 

Loud from its rocky caverns, the deep-voiced neighboring 
ocean 

Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the wail of 
of the forest. 

[When these are finished the pupils form in a procession and 
march to the spot where the tree is to be planted. The hole should 
have been prepared and all things ready. Gathering around, a 
song is sung. Then all recite in unison the following lines]: 

All ye woods, and trees, and bow'rs, 
All ye virtues, and ye powers 
That inhabit in the lakes, 
In the pleasant springs or brakes, 
Move your feet 

To our sound, 
Whilst we greet 
On this ground. 

[Next, the pupils who are to plant the tree take it and set it in 
its place. Another steps forward and says]: 

i$th Pupil. We plant this tree to help make the 
earth beautiful. When God made the earth he planted 
trees on it, some for fruit and some for beauty. When 
we are away from this spot this tree will grow, and 
spread its branches, and be an object of happiness. 
Let us do things daily like this; trying our best to 
make earth more beautiful. 



ii2 Special €xttti8t& 

16th Pupil. 

SCATTER THE GERMS OF THE BEAUTIFUL. 

Scatter the germs of the beautiful! 

By the wayside let them fall, 
Let the rose upspring by the cottage gate, 

And the vine on the garden wall. 
Cover the rough and the rude of earth 

With a veil of leaves and flow'rs, 
And mark with the opening bud and cup, 

The march of summer hours. 



The Excelsior Club. 

[This may make part of the Closing Exercises, or of the exercises 
on any important occasion; it can be lengthened by adding more 
members; an outline only is given. The platform will be vacant and 
several young men or older boys enter; there will be a table and books. 
The boys talk in a general way for a few moments, when the " Presi- 
dent" enters. Several say, "the President has come."] 

Pres. Please come to order. The subject before us 
is "The Value of an Ability to Write or Compose 
Readily." You will please proceed in order and with 
promptness. 

No. i. Writing and composing are both the same; 
composing means placing thoughts together so as to 
express meaning by them intelligently. 

No. 2. The word composition comes from the Latin, 
compositio — con, together, and ponere, to place. It 
therefore means the placing of thoughts together. Some 
can get out thoughts, but they are not linked together. 
They are disjointed. A collection of thoughts may be 
a mosaic, but not a composition. 

No. 3. I think that is a proper distinction. What 
seems remarkable to me is the difference that appears 
between writers on the same subject. One man thinks 
quite a different set of thoughts. 

No. 4. That arises from his education and reading, 



®\)t €xttl&iov Club* 113 

I suppose; "and then a man at a later day expresses 
himself quite differently from what he once did. 

No. 5. Arrangement of ideas or thoughts is of the 
greatest importance. They must not be thrown to- 
gether in an indiscriminate manner, but grouped in 
such a way as to bring out the meaning intended to be 
conveyed. The words must not be crowded together, 
or loosely connected. Order is essential to good com- 
position. 

No. 6. Mr. President, I have been told that writing 
has two rules; first, have something to say, and second, 
say it. It seems to me that the young writer has 
difficulty because he does not have something to say. 
Is it easier to say than to think? I should like your 
opinion on that point. 

Pres. It is not possible to say which is the easier of 
the two. In my judgment the two go together. You 
learn a fact and think about it and write about it, and 
so you go on; you learn to write by writing and you 
learn to think by writing, too. But with all writers 
there must be a special effort to acquire material for 
thought. My plan has been to read about the subject 
and then after due thought, to write. 

No. 7. That shows the importance of reading good 
books; there are so many that are of no service and 
so many that imagine that solid books only should be 
chosen. This does not mean sermons or prosy things, 
but the real gold, instead of the base metal. Books 
are our best helps to thought; they make us " heirs 
to the spiritual life of all the ages." If a writer reads 
shallow books he will think and write in a shallow 
manner. 

No. 8. Mr. President, the great difficulty is to origi- 
nate anything new. I think I can say something 
that may be of value to the club on that subject. 

Several. We shall like to have you. 

No. 8. I follow this plan. I take up a subject and 



ii4 Special €wti&t$. 

read about it. Suppose it to be " Columbus." I 
get all I can from books. Then I begin to think 
about him. Of course there is now a mingled mass 
of thought about Columbus in my mind, but I think 
and think about his life, his hardships, his rebuffs, 
his sailing, his discoveries, and his return; the shower 
of honors, his further efforts, and his imprisonment. I 
thus realize somewhat the kind of man he was. I feel 
interested in him and I determine to write about him. 
I sit down and analyze my thoughts; first, those about 
his youth; second, those about his efforts to start out 
expeditions; third, his sailing and discovery; fourth, 
his ill-treatment. Then taking one subject at a time, 
I write what I can on each. 

Pres. That is very well stated. To write takes one 
out of the receptive state into which he passes if he 
only reads. There is receiving and creating. Now 
one who writes is in the way of creating. To refer to 
the subject of Columbus. The creative mind goes 
back to the time in which Columbus lived, and builds 
up the circumstances and the people that surrounded 
him; he sees him walking about explaining his theory, 
he sees him start on the voyage, he sees him discover 
the new world. The receptive mind merely gathers 
in the facts; the creative mind builds with them. 

No. 9. It would be a great gratification if I could 
learn to avoid being merely receptive — that is my fault. 
Cannot some one tell us ? 

No. 10. I will try to answer that inquiry. We must 
accustom ourselves to look into the very bottom of 
the subject and not on the surface. We are not to 
take anything for granted because some one says so. 
We must ask how ? why ? at every step. Besides, we 
must study nature, art, and poetry, for these are creative 
in themselves. 

No. 3. I do not see, Mr. President, that any one has 
said anything about expression. If we are to have 



tEtje €xtt\8iot Club* 115 

thoughts and then express them it is important that we 
know how to express our thoughts. I find more 
difficulty in putting my thoughts into a good shape 
than in having them; in fact after I write I cut out 
half of what I have put down. So you see I have no 
lack in that direction. But I find my thoughts are 
sadly mixed up; the composition lacks force for that 
reason. 

No. 8. Expression and style are about the same. A 
person must strive to have a good style. In good 
authors the style seems to be so natural that we do not 
notice it at all; they seem to write without any trouble, 
but it is because they have thought much. A person 
may write hastily, but he does not think hastily. A 
good and natural style comes only from long and 
careful practice. A great writer says: " Your work is 
not finished when you have brought the ore from the 
mine; it must be sifted, smelted, refined, and coined 
before it can be of any real use and contribute to the 
intellectual food of mankind." 

Pres. Speaking of expression, that is not a good 
style that uses worn-out phrases and epitaphs such as 
"sable night," " gloomy shades," " verdant fields," 
"road to ruin," etc. These betray poverty of ex- 
pression; to avoid them is an imperative rule. They 
are usually employed by young and inexperienced 
writers for the press. In a country paper I saw a 
description of a fire and it was called "the devouring 
element." No one can have a good style who does 
not resolutely call a spade a spade. When he calls 
it "a horticultural implement" he may be sure his 
expression is very faulty. 

No. 7. Mr. President, I move that we adjourn. 

Pres. Before we do so we should hear the report of 
the committee on subjects. Is the committee ready 
to report? 

No. 5. As chairman of that committee I will report 



n6 Special €rmi£t8. 

this subject: "What Is the Chief Value of a Study 
of History?" 

No. 7. I now renew my motion to adjourn. 

Pres. The motion is made; all in its favor say "Aye." 
The Excelsior Club stands adjourned. (They rise, 
sing , and during chorus begin to go out.) 
Tune, Auld Lang Syne. 

And now the parting time has come 

For our old club again; 
We've met, we've talked, we've wisdom gained, 

And now we separate. 

Of old times here, my friends, 

Of old times here, 
We'll think with joy in future years, 

Of old times here. 



A Court Scene : Haw vs. Hum. 

[The platform should be vacant and some persons saunter in with 
hats on; then the clerk, the lawyers with books. Then a noise is 
heard and the clerk calls out: "Hats off; his Honor, Judge Story." 
All rise and take off hats. The judge should have a wig of white hair 
and if possible a gown (a water-proof will answer.) He must be very 
dignified; sits behind a small table ort the side of the platform and 
a lawyer at right and left, clerk in front. The speakers must face 
the audience.] 

Judge. Call the next case, Mr. Clerk! 

Clerk. Haw versus Hum. 

Plaintiff's Attorney. Your Honor (turning to 
spectators) : This is an action to recover damages 
for the destruction of six fine white linen shirts, five 
hemstitch handkerchiefs, and four pairs of extra 
balbriggan socks formerly belonging to our respected 
townsman, Mr. Nathan Haw; but wilfully destroyed 
and devoured, with malice prepense, by a vicious goat; 
said animal being the property of one Ephraim Hum, 



# Court fyttntx S?afco vs. tyum. 117 

whose back yard adjoins the premises of said Haw. 
The plaintiff therefore demands reparation in the sum 
of fifty dollars for damages sustained, and consequent 
anxiety and loss of sleep; and prays the judgment of 
this court. 

Defendant's Attorney. Your Honor; Ladies and 
Gentlemen of the Jury: The opposing counsel has 
not stated the case in its real aspect. The fact of the 
matter is that the plaintiff neglected to properly secure 
the line upon which the garments were hung, and it con- 
sequently was blown over into the defendant's yard, 
where it was eaten by said goat, to his own exceeding 
detriment and distress; so much so that death finally 
supervened; whereby the defendant, our revered 
fellow-citizen, Mr. Ephraim Hum, sustains damages 
in the sum of seventy-five dollars, the goat being a 
valuable animal, and not vicious as stated by counsel 
for said Haw. Therefore we confidently appeal to 
this eminent jurisdiction for a favorable judgment. 

/. Let the plaintiff call his witnesses. 

C. Mr. Solomon Wintergreen ! (Winter green comes 
forward to the witness stand. He should have his arm 
in a sling, a handkerchief round his head and over one 
eye, and should limp with a cane. The clerk repeats 
the following formula very rapidly in one breath.) 

C. You — do — hereby — and — hereon — toothem — 
toothem — toothem — hobblum — hobblum — bob! 

Wintergreen {raising his cane). I do. 

/. What is gour business ? 

W. I am a dentist. 

/. Perhaps that is why you look so down in the 
mouth. I hope you attend well to your profession. 

W. I give great pains to it. 

/. What do you know of this case ? 

W. I know the goat. 

/. Are you intimately acquainted with him? 

W. Very. 



1 1 8 Special exercises* 

/. How did you happen to meet him? 

W. I didn't meet him; he met me. 

/. Well, how did it occur ? 

/. Undoubtedly then he has formed an opinion as 
to a goat's capacity. I will allow the question. 

P. A . Tell us, have you observed the ability of goats 
to consume all sorts of things. 

/. I have given several years to observing and 
wondering about this very matter. 

P. A. Well, then, tell us what you think about his 
capacity. 

W. Oh, he was going four miles a minute and I 
happened to be in the way. 

/. Where did you go after this meeting? 

W. I went a few yards through the air, and landed 
in the ash-barrel. 

/. Did you meet him again? 

W. Oh yes, he waited for me to get out of the ash- 
barrel and then he came back on the lightning express. 

/. Where did he butt you this time? 

W. All over. 

/. But where to? 

W. I didn't have time for a careful examination, 
but I think I went through three fences and over 
two stone walls; I knocked down a wheelbarrow, and 
finally landed among some gooseberry bushes. 

P. A. What is your opinion of a goat's moral charac- 
ter? 

W. He hasn't any. I think he is utterly devoid of 
soul or conscience, and takes delight in wickedness. 

P. A . What is your opinion of his capacity ? 

W. I think he is equal to about five thousand horse- 
power. 

P. A. But I refer to his stomach. Do you think 
him capable of eating a line of six shirts, five hand- 
kerchiefs, and — 

D. A. I object to the question, your Honor; it is 



a Court £>cene: J^ato vs. H?um* 119 

an improper question; this man has never dissected 
a goat's stomach. 

/. The court rules out the question. 

P. A. Very well, I will ask, what, in your estimation, 
is the animal's stomachic capacity? 

D. A.I object. 

P. A. This man knows what goats can do. He 
has watched goats eat. 

W. I believe that he could not only eat that line 
of clothes, but an entire clothing establishment, in- 
cluding the firm. It is my thorough conviction that 
if the animal were left to his own devices he would 
devour every green thing upon the face of the earth. 

D. A. And Wintergreen too? 

W. Yes, sir, it does, sir; I am certain that he would 
have no scruples in eating me bodily. He would even 
swallow the defendant's learned counsel — which would 
be something of a pill, sir, but he would stomach it; 
and after devouring every living thing upon the globe 
he would butt the world out of its orbit away into 
space, and go and eat the Man in the Moon, sir. That 
is my opinion of his capacity. (Steps down.) 

J. Call the witnesses for the defense. 

C. Simon Spangle! (Spangle comes to witness 
stand.) Do — you — hereby — and — hereon — toothem — 
toothem — toothem — hobblum — hobblum — bob? 

Spangle. I do (raises both hands). 

J. What is your business? 

S. Tanning hides. 

/. Then you are a teacher? 

S. No. A tanner. 

J. What do you know of this case ? 

S. I know the goat. 

/. I trust your acquaintance has been more agree- 
able than that of Mr. Wintergreen. 

S. It has. That goat has been fearfully libeled. 

J. What can you say in the creature's favor? 



1 20 Special €mtim. 

S. He butted seven kids to death, and thirteen dogs; 
all of which I bought at a great bargain. I tanned their 
skins and sold them at a large profit. The goat is a 
fine animal and worth his weight in gold. Even in 
death he does not forget his patrons. He left his skin, 
which I have bought and shall work up into shoes. Oh, 
he was a fine goat, his hide was the toughest I have 
ever seen! I wish I could find a great many such 
goats; I should be soon rich. (Steps down.) 

D. A. Your Honor, we claim that the clothing in 
question had no business on our client's premises. If 
the clothes-line had been properly fastened the wind 
would never have carried it over the fence to tempt 
the innocent and unsuspecting goat. And, secondly, 
we claim that no honest man has a right to six fine 
white linen shirts at one time, and all out on the line 
together, provoking the enmity of less fortunate neig- 
bors; no creature but a centipede is justly entitled to 
such an unheard-of number of socks; and as to the 
hemstitch handkerchiefs, I will only say, handker- 
chiefs have to be bio wed! 

/. Call the plaintiff. 

C. Nathan Haw. (Haw comes to stand.) Do you, 
etc.? 

H. I do. 

7. Did you properly fasten the clothes-line ? 

H. My wife fastened it. 

/. Then of course it blew away. (Haw steps down.) 
Call the defendant. 

C. Ephraim Hum. (Hum comes to stand.) Do 
you, etc.? 

H. I do. 

J. What have you to say in defense of the goat ? 

H. Oh, your Honor, I am sad when I reflect on the 
tender memories connected with that gentle creature. 
His was an untimely end ! He is the last of an illustri- 
ous line — 



# Court £>cene: S?ato vs. fyum. 121 

H. Yes, of my clothes-line. 

J. Silence! Proceed, Mr. Hum. 

H. I cherished that goat for his mother's sake. 
Ah! she was a nanny-goat indeed! How often has 
she furnished my poor family with precious milk! 
There were many dark hours, when eggs were too 
high for us, and then she supported us in that awful 
time when butter rose so powerfully. I assure you, 
judge, she was a friend indeed. 

/. We do not wish to hear about butter and eggs. 
Confine yourself strictly to the matter in hand. You 
are talking about the mother of this goat. 

H. Yes, she ate a bed quilt and died, and now her 
son Billy follows her in the same path of indiscretion! 
(Steps down.) 

J. What is the value of the goat, Mr. Wintergreen ? 

W. Oh, I should say about ten dollars. 

/. And Mr. Spangle, what do you think was the value 
of the goods consumed by the goat? 

S. Why, ten dollars would cover it, no doubt. 

/. (He rises and all stand in proper poses.) The 
court has carefully considered the many questions 
that have come up and he finds several cases quite 
similar have been before the courts. (Opens books.) 
In all these cases, where an equal loss is sustained 
by both parties it is best to bring the case to an end. 
I therefore dismiss the case, adjudging the costs to be 
equally divided, half to the plaintiff and half to the 
defendant, and advise that no more goats be kept and 
that the clothes-lines be made secure. The clerk will 
dismiss the court. 

C. Hear ye, hear ye, this court is now adjourned. 
(Exeunt.) 



i22 Special €mti$t& 



Historical Visitors. 

[This can be made a part of the Closing Exercises and be very 
interesting. Other characters can be added; this is merely a mys- 
tery outline. It will increase the mystery to have some red or white 
powder explode when each enters; three knocks are given, then 
an explosion; then the characters suddenly appear from behind 
a curtain. The historian sits at a table; there is a lamp and books.] 

CHARACTERS. COSTUMES. 

The Historian. Sits at table; lamp, books, etc. 

Father Time, White hair and beard; carries an 

hour-glass. 

George Washington, White powdered wig, swallow-tail 

coat, knee-breeches, long stock- 
ings, and slippers. 
If possible, arrange costumes that 
resemble somewhat those found 



Cyrus the Great 
Leonidas. 
Horatius. 
Peter the Great. 
Robert Bruce. 



in pictures of the men of their 
respective times. 



Historian {sits before a table, poring over a book. 
Shuts the book saying): Those were great days; Cyrus 
the Great, Alexander and the Persian invasion, and 
Caesar, Napoleon, Washington! Though dead and 
gone long ago, they seem real to me and I seem to see 
them. 

(An explosion and Father Time appears.) 

H. (gets up and bows). Please, sir, who are you and 
what do you wish? 

Father Time. I am one you have often heard of — I 
am Father Time. I heard you speak of several of 
my sons; they are indeed worthy of respect; I am 
glad you have become acquainted with them. How 
would you like to see some of them here in this room 
and talk with them? 



historical ©igitors* 123 

H. I would like that; but that's impossible. Yes, 
I feel this greatness. 

F. T. Whom would you like to see ? 

H . If I could, I'd like to see. Cyrus the Great. I 

F. T. (Knocks three times and there is an explosion 
and Cyrus the Great enters.) This, my young his- 
torian, is Cyrus the Great. Ask him what you wish. 

H. I am very glad to see you, Mr. Cyrus. I have 
always had quite a liking for you because you were 
such a wonderful fellow. And did you really flog that 
boy that time you were playing king? They'd never 
found out who you were if you hadn't, would they ? 

Cyrus. O they might; one can never tell what will 
happen. 

H. Please tell me, Mr. Cyrus, something about old 
Croesus? You took him prisoner, you know. I 
always thought that w r as real good of you to let him go 
that time he cried out about Solon. And did you get 
all of his riches ? 

Cyrus. I got most of them, but Lydia, you know, 
was full of gold; it could be picked up along the courses 
of some of the rivers. The mountains where they 
started were full of it. 

H. Then you turned the river off into a canal so 
you could get into Babylon, wasn't that a bright idea ? 
Just tell us about that, will you? 

F. T. But Cyrus must go. 

H. What a pity; I haven't heard scarcely anything 
yet. (Explosion and exit Cyrus.) 

F. T. You mustn't use up so much time in talking 
to them if you want to hear what they have to say. 
Whom would you like to see next ? 

H. Leonidas, please, I want to 

(Explosion. Enter Leonidas^ 

H. Mr. Leonidas, please tell me all about the battle 
at ThermopyLx. I tell you, you were a brave man 
that time! 



124 Special €vtttiet& 

Leonidas. I only did my duty. Could I have ever 
looked anybody in the face again if I had given up my 
country to the enemy to save my life? No, sir! give 
me death rather than dishonor! 

H. What was that word you sent back to Xerxes 
when he commanded you to send him your arms ? 

L. I told him to come and take them. 

H. And weren't you at all afraid when you saw 
his vast army? What did you think about to keep 
your courage up? 

L. I thought of my country. 

H. But didn't you think those other fellows were 
mean that went back and left you? 

L. I was not their judge; my duty was to keep the 
Persians out. 

H. That was a mean scamp that told about that 
secret pass. 

F. T. Time's up. Leonidas must go. {Exit.) 

H. Call in that brave fellow that kept the bridge in 
Rome — Horatius, that's his name. 

{Three knocks; enter Horatius). Mr. Horatius, how 
do you do? {Wanfs to shake hands; he refuses.) I 
am very glad to see you. Won't you please tell me 
all about that bridge affair? 

Horatius. About what ? 

H. Why, about how you kept the bridge in Rome. 

Horatius. Kept the bridge! What bridge did I 
keep? 

H. Why, you know that time you kept the Etrurians 
back while the rest of your men cut away the bridge 
so they couldn't cross over. 

Horatius. Oh, I didn't claim to do it all alone. 
Spurius, Lartius, and Herminius helped me. 

H. Yes, but they ran just as soon as the bridge was 
ready to fall, and you stayed till it was down and you 
had to swim back. 

Horatius. Well, I think we Romans were made of 



historical Wi&itots. 125 

strong stuff. We didn't think anything of putting our 
lives in peril to save our country. 

H. I would like to have been there. I'd 

F. T. Time's up. Horatius must go. {Exit.) 
Whom will you interview next ? 

H. Well, let me see Peter the Great. {Three knocks; 
enter Peter.) How do you do, Peter? Though you 
were not noted for fine manners, you did really great 
things. 

Peter. What ones ? ( 

H. Perhaps you don't know what people say about 
you. 

P. Why, what do they say? 

H. They say you went down to Amsterdam and 
learned ship-building, just like any laborer. 

P. Yes, so I did, and I had a good reason for doing 
so. 

PI. Yes, I know all about it. The books tell us so 
you did. But what made you let King Charles of 
Sweden whip you when you had so many men and 
he had so few? 

P. Well, what do people now say was the reason ? 

H. That your men weren't so well trained. 

F. T. Peter must go. {Exit.) Whom next? 

H. Call up Robert Bruce. {Three knocks; enter 
Robert Bruce.) How do you do, Mr. Bruce? (Wants 
to shake hands; he rejuses.) Won't you please tell me, 
sir, about that spider? Did you really go in a den 
to hide, and did the men come to find you ? You tell 
about it, won't you, please, sir? I am anxious to 
know the facts. 

B. Yes, I hid myself in a cave once when my enemies 
were hunting for me. I presume there was a web there 
when I went in, and I brushed it down, for the mouth 
was very narrow. The spider must have worked very 
rapidly, for it was only a little while after I went in 
that I heard them coming toward the cave. I heard 



126 Special €xtuim> 

one of them say, " Maybe he's in that hole." But 
another one said, "No, there's a spider's web; he 
would have brushed it down. if he had gone in there" — 
and they hurried on. 

H. I guess you felt thankful to that spider, didn't 
you? 

F. T. Time to be going, Mr. Bruce. 

H. Good-day, Mr. Bruce. Very glad to have met 
you. (Explosion; exit Bruce.) Now call William Tell, 
please. I want to ask him about that apple. 

F. T. I have only time to call one more. Whom 
will you have? 

H. (after reflecting an instant.) I think I'd prefer 
the Father of my Country; I've heard so much about 

him (Enter George Washington. H. rises very 

respectfully.) How do you do, Father Washington? 
If you have time to talk a few moments I would be 
much pleased. 

W. What would you like to have me talk about ? 

H. Well, I need some good advice, and I know 
you could give me some that would be of great benefit. 

W. I w T ill tell you some of the things I made up my 
mind to observe when I was a young man, and I think 
that whatever success I had in life was due to my 
doing so. One thing was, "Always to associate with 
men of good quality; it is better to be alone than to be 
in bad company." x\nother was, "Be courteous to 
all, but intimate with few; and let these be well tried 
before you give them your confidence." I could give 
you many more, but you can find all of them in the 
books that have been written. There is a book now 
on your table that has my farewell address in it. 

F. T. Time's up. (Explosion. Exit Washington. 
A second explosion and exit F. T.) 

H. Now you may call in Napoleon. (Looks around.) 
Why, I must have been dreaming. I have been 
reading about Cyrus and Washington and I thought 



S?tetowal ©tettor& 127 

they came in and talked with me, and that Father 
Time was here, too. But I seem to be alone. Yes, 
I must have been dreaming and I had better go to 
bed. {Takes lamp and exit.) 



"HOW TO TEACH" SERIES 

A Library of the Best Modern Methods 

^IXETEEN numbers dow ready, each devoted to a compact, concise 
discussion of the principles and methods of a particular branch. 
They are written from the school-room standpoint and contain just the 
help the teacher most needs. Attractively printed on good paper, uni- 
formly bound in flexible cloth covers. 25 cents each. 

NO. AUTHOB 

1. How to Manage Busy Work - - - Kellogg 

2. How to Teach Botany - " 

3. How to Teach Paper Folding - - Latter 

4. How to Teach Reading - - - Kellogg 

5. How to Make School-Room Charts 

6. How to Teach Minerals - - - Payne 

7. How to Teach Birds - 

8. How to Teach Bugs and Beetles - 

9. How to Teach Fractions - - - Kellogg 

10. How to Teach Clay Modeling 

11. How to Teach Primary Arithmetic - Seel^y 

12. How to Teach Butterflies and Bees - Payne 

13. How to Teach History- - - - Elson 

14. How to Teach Composition Writing - Kellogg 

1 5. How to Teach Constructive Work - Codd 

16. How to Teach About Aquatic Life - Payne 

17. How to Teach About Trees - " 

18. How to Be a Successful Teacher - - Kellogg 

19. How to Decorate the School-Room - Coburn 

INPREPAKATION: 

19. How to Teach Geography - 

20. How to Teach Physiology - 

21. How to Teach Penmanship - 

22. How to Teach Spelling 

Write us for special terms on the set. An agent wanted in every town. 
L'very teacher needs a set of these interesting, practical book*. 

L L. KELLOGG & CO., 61 East 9th St., New York 



UBB ^ M ^|Mi?jj| 

022 204 653 



Five Leading 
Educational Periodicals 

THE, TEACHERS' INSTITUTE. 

The Teachers' Magazine. Monthly, $1 a Year. 

Gives wonderful value for one dollar a year. Each number has 54 large paget 
9 x 13 inches. It contains the methods of the most successful schools told by 
teachers who have used them. Everything written expressly for it. All depart- 
ments of school work covered. The School Entertainment pagesare famous. 
The [nstitute has nearly 40,000 regular subscribers, leading all other educa- 
tional papers, a sure indication of its splendid value. 

THE SCHOOL JOURNAL 

Weekly, at $2.O0 a Year. 

The First Educational Weekly. Established 1870. Fifty numbers a year, making 
a volume of about 1600 large pages, 9 x 13 inches, equal to 80 books, usually sold at 
$1.50 each. Many special issues are published during the year. Among these are : 
Twelve "School Board" Numbers, 40 to 54 pp. each; Ten "Method" Numbers; 
Ten "Educational Review" Numbers; A Superb,, Annual Summer" Number, 
100 pp.; A "Christmas" Number of 72 pp.; A " Private School" Number of 
56 pp. 

THE PRIMARY SCHOOL 

Monthly, $1.00 a Year. 

Crowded with the best primary methods. The oldest, the most help-giving, 
the most carefully edited and beautifully illustrated primary paper. Tells what 
to do and how to do it. Nature Study, Reading, Language, Seat Work, Busy 
Work, Numbers, Hand Work— all subjects— the best methods in each. The 
" Hints and Helps " page is famous. The " Pieces to Speak " are very bright. 
The illustrations are very numerous and add greatly to its value and good looks. 
Every phase of the first four years' work receives help thru its columns. Each 
issue contains 52 large pages with colored cover and useful supplement. 

EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATIONS 

Monthly, $1.50 a Year 

is a monthly magazine of Pedagogy furnishing a home course of reading for 
teachers. Its leading departments are: History of Education, School Manage- 
ment, Theory of Teaching, and the N. Y. State Examination Questions, with 
Ynswers complete. 

Each department is conducted by a specialist in his subject. This furnishes 
the best possible course for teachers' meetings, reading circles, and for indi- 
vidual study. Hundreds of teachers' clubs meet weekly during the school year to 
read it together. 

OUR TIMES 

Fifty Cents a Year. 

The pioneer monthly news-magazine of the important events, discoveries 
etc., for school room and home. The plan of this paper is to give: 1. A clear, 
condensed, and impartial account of the Leading Events of the Month. 2. The 
Important Inventions and Discoveries. 3. Interesting Geographical Material. 4. 
Answers to Questions of General Interest, relating to these and other kindred 
matters. 

Each number contains 32 pages, in magazine form, nicely illustrated with 
portraits, maps, and pictures of leading inventions. 

E. L. Kellogg & Co., Pn &?2SS£S , SS/fial™. 61 E. Ninth St, N. Y 



Holli 



022 204 653 H 



